BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Two health care groups are suing Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, claiming he exceeded his authority with emergency insurance coverage changes made after Hurricane Isaac.
The lawsuit by the Louisiana State Medical Society and the Louisiana Hospital Association was filed in Baton Rouge district court late Monday. It says an emergency rule that affected health insurance policies was unconstitutional and unenforceable.
The rule issued by Donelon on Sept. 4 required that emergency out-of-network medical care be treated like an in-network claim. The move eliminated higher charges for patients who were getting care outside of their health care network and sidestepped existing contracts between health providers and insurers that determine reimbursement rates and covered charges.
The medical society said Donelon improperly tried to create new law with the emergency rule and wrongly restricted the rights of doctors to bill their patients under existing contracts. The lawsuit seeks to have those portions of the rule dealing with payments for health services thrown out and declared unenforceable.
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