Committee on Indian Affairs. Hearings held.
This bill protects Native American patients from being billed or sent to collections for health care that the Indian Health Service (IHS) authorized and referred them to receive from outside doctors or hospitals. It also creates a process for patients who already paid out of pocket for this referred care to get their money back. If this passes, Native patients who were sent to outside providers by IHS could no longer be held responsible for those bills, even if they signed paperwork saying otherwise.
Thousands of Native American patients have been sent to collections or paid out of pocket for medical care that the government was supposed to cover. This bill would stop that from happening and create a way for patients to get their money back.