Calif. proposes ban on balance billing for ER services.

According to Modern Healthcare's Daily Dose, "California insurance regulators have filed for an emergency mandate that would prohibit hospitals from directly billing patients for emergency care that won't be fully covered by the patients' health plans. . . . The state Department of Managed Health Care contends that federal laws requiring hospitals to provide basic emergency care to all patients regardless of insurance status, combined with a state law requiring health plans to pay for emergency care regardless of whether they contract with a particular hospital, amount to an 'implied contract' between hospitals and health plans to fully cover patients' emergency-care costs." What are the chances that California, which leads the way in so many cultural trends, including some health-related ones, is establishing a model that will attract other states?