A new House bill would prohibit health insurance companies from imposing arbitrary time limits on patients undergoing anesthesia. This comes days after Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield rescinded the measure after an outcry.
“We cannot trust insurance companies to do the right thing out of the kindness of doctors and patients,” the bill's sponsor, Rep. Torres (D-Bronx), told the Post.
“We need a law that prohibits any insurance company in the United States from micromanaging the length of anesthesia treatment for medically necessary surgeries,” Torres said. “The goal of medicine should be to prevent pain, not to refuse anesthesia and cause pain.”
The congressman's Anesthesia for All Act would prohibit health insurance companies from determining how long a person can stay under anesthesia and threaten to withhold reimbursement if they exceed that limit. .
Anesthesia is powerful sedation or temporary sleep that prevents patients from feeling pain during surgery or other procedures.
The proposed legislation would ensure that reimbursement is based on medical necessity as determined by the attending anesthesiologist, and that insurance companies would not have pre-set limits on the length of surgeries or treatments. It is prohibited to refuse payment simply because the amount exceeds the limit.
The uproar over the canceled Anthem Blue Cross Shield cap erupted around the same time last week that UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in front of the Hilton Hotel.
Authorities say Thompson may have been murdered by a disgruntled customer, and the internet quickly goes wild as people focus on how many patients have been treated poorly by the big medical industry. It became.
Torres, 36, is considering running for governor in 2026, but has not decided to run for mayor.
Gov. Kathy Hochul also criticized Anthem for the proposed policy change, and she said the company reversed itself after the governor's office contacted the insurance company.
“I shared the outrage over Anthem's plan to strip coverage from New Yorkers who had to be put under anesthesia for surgery. We urged Anthem to change course, and today Anthem stands behind this misguided We will announce a complete reversal of the policy,” the governor said last week at X.
“Don't ruin the health and well-being of New Yorkers. It's not on my watch.”
Torres has publicly criticized Hochul, a fellow Democrat, in recent weeks, calling him “the new Joe Biden who could lose to a Republican if he runs for re-election.”
He said both the city and state are poorly governed and New York state regulations “make it impossible to do business.”
Last month, Torres accused Adams and Hochul's administration, as well as New York City and state lawmakers, of being “complicit” in serial stabbing Ramon Rivera's killing of three innocent people during his rampage across the city. did. He said city and state policies and laws allowed the insane and violent Rivera to slip through the cracks and go on a killing spree.
As he looks to his new role, the congressman has pivoted from his previous left-leaning positions on border illegal immigration, security immigration, and security.
