‘The solution would be worse than the problem’ says seniors leader

60 Plus Association and American Association of Senior Citizens Founder and Chairman James Martin today issued the following statement in response to proposals to end the problem of surprise medical billing:

“Surprise medical billing is a big problem for seniors but Congress is taking the wrong approach to solving this problem.

We will not solve the problems of surprise billing or anything else involving health care by enacting socialist price controls. Price controls do not work. They have never worked. Yet for reasons that elude reason and logic, we’re to believe they will eliminate surprise billing in 2020. This is false. The solution would be worse than the problem and Republican Members of Congress supporting this misguided approach ought to know better. 

When a senior seeks care at a medical facility and unknowingly receives treatment from an individual who is not in their insurance network, they are too often surprised to receive a bill for that treatment. It’s wrong and it’s yet another problem exacerbated by Obamacare. 

Price controls on health care will only deprive medical facilities and health care providers of financial resources – desperately needed resources that are already stretched to the breaking point by treating COVID-19. It’s a bad idea. Until we can get rid of the disaster of Obamacare once and for all, Congress needs to find and enact fair, free-market principles to end surprise billing and ease the health care burden faced by seniors, our greatest generation that has suffered so much for so long. They deserve better. They’ve earned it!”