Insurance Updates

No Surprises—A Provider Primer for Uninsured Patients 

Effected January 1, 2022, uninsured or self-pay patients are protected from unexpectedly high medical bills. To patients who don’t have any health insurance or don’t want to use insurance for health care services or items, medical service providers must provide a ‘good faith estimate’ that includes an approximate cost covering all medical services that a patient wants to take.  

This is more commonly known as ‘No Surprises’ requirements. Regardless of any scheduled or unscheduled item, a healthcare provider or facility must provide the ‘good faith estimate’ to the patient if he/she requests it.  

There is also a dispute resolution process between the patient and provider if the total health care costs exceed more than $400 than the initial good faith estimate for any reason. The patient may initiate the dispute process. In such cases, an independent third-party dispute resolution entity will investigate the entire case to determine the amount a patient needs to pay.