Rep. Axne Demands House Committees, Leadership Include Rural Communities in Surprise Medical Billing Deal

Today, Rep. Cindy Axne (IA-03) urged House leaders to address a key surprise medical billing issue for rural communities by including protections for emergency air ambulance trips in any final agreement on surprise medical billing legislation.

In a letter to committee and House leadership, Rep. Axne cites stories from constituents in rural areas who require air ambulance transportation during medical emergencies. Despite needing immediate, life-saving care, rural Iowans can be billed tens of thousands of dollars because their trip was provided by an out-of-network or third-party air ambulance. Often these are serious medical emergencies that render someone unable to make informed medical decisions, and an air ambulance is the only emergency service fast enough to reach them.

“A traditional ambulance, which may have to travel 50 miles or more, cannot provide timely response in our rural areas. For my constituents needing air ambulance transport, they do not have a choice over which air ambulance will be dispatched – this is a life-or-death medical emergency,” wrote Rep. Axne. “As Congress works to find solutions to surprise billing, I urge you to make sure that our rural constituents’ needs are included by addressing the high cost of out-of-network air ambulances.”

The letter was sent to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and the Chairs and Ranking Members of the House Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Labor as they work to finalize a comprehensive and bipartisan surprise billing package this year.

Since coming to Congress last year, Rep. Axne has worked to ensure rural communities are not left behind in federal policymaking.

Last year, Rep. Axne introduced bipartisan legislation to provide relief to rural hospitals by delaying enforcement of burdensome regulations that limit the ability of Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) or rural hospitals to provide quality care. The Ways and Means Committee advanced that bill in June as a part of H.R. 3429, the HEARTS and Rural Relief Act.

Rep. Axne also wrote to House appropriators last year to advocate for increased funding to the State Office of Rural Health and to Area Health Education Centers, which help recruit, train, and keep physicians and other primary health care workers in rural places.