October 8, 2015 3:46 PM

Doctors fire back at insurance industry report on what Texans are charged for ER visits

“The health insurance industry games the system to keep more of patients’ premium dollars by forcing patients to seek care out of network. Then they have the gall to criticize what some doctors’ bill for that care.”

Texas doctors fired back today at a report claiming that Texans pay some of the most inflated prices for out-of-network medical care in the nation.

“This so-called report is nothing more than a desperate smoke screen to divert attention from the real problem,” said Texas Medical Association President Tom Garcia.

The report in question, produced by the insurance trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans and described by Quorum Report yesterday, compared the average price state governments pay for certain treatments through Medicare with what patients are billed for same care when they receive it at facilities outside their insurance companies’ provider network. The difference, the report suggested, indicated price inflation.

By this measure Texas has the nation’s fifth-most-inflated costs for out-of-network health care.

Garcia called this methodology absurd.

By Emily DePrang