treatment in an emergency. When they don't know what they are or aren't on the hook for, they will try to wait until they can see a physician outside of an ER in order to ensure they know what's going on. My wife has already told me that she will have to be dying before she'll go to the ER again because of the sour taste and impression this situation left. The people most hurt by surprise billing are the patients trying to get emergency care. There has to be a way to provide more transparency in these situations. The only people who aren't being protected by policies and laws are the patients. There are policies protecting the physicians and hospitals, there are laws protecting the insurance companies. Nobody is seemingly looking to protect the patients in these situations.