Legislation to protect consumers from unfair billing practices from the healthcare industry.

The medical community currently charges consumers for services without advance notification. Consumers do not have adequate protection. Doctors, hospitals, and other medical providers bill patients without giving notification of amounts that will be charged. Once consumers are charged, their rights to fight these billings are inadequate. We need medical service providers to have transparent billing practices and we need to provide consumers with protection from fraudulent billing practices. Consumers need to have rights articulated and protected. Please draft legislation to make hospital billing practices more fair, more transparent, and give consumers rights to dispute charges and assistance in resolving disputes. Empowering the consumer is how we begin to control healthcare costs.