Alumni Action Alert: Canceled flight? Surprise medical bill? We’re here to help
Many alumni asked us over the years for more opportunities to get engaged in important issues. Now we send an Alumni Action Alert each month on a particular issue or campaign The Public Interest Network is working on, along with some actions that you can take to help protect the environment, public health or the public interest.
Quick action: Sign this PIRG petition calling on DOT to allow travelers to get refunds for canceled flights.
Context: As we all know, the coronavirus pandemic has both caused and exacerbated many problems in our country. Coming out of the holiday season, two consumer problems that stand out are issues with airline travel and for people seeking medical care.
Surprise medical bills
Here’s an unfair situation: You slip and fall and need to go to the emergency room. You know it’s in your best financial interest to pick a hospital that’s in your insurance network, so you’re careful to select an in-network hospital. Everything goes without a hitch until– weeks later –you get hit with a surprise medical bill for hundreds more than you expected. The hospital may have decided to use an out-of-network emergency room doctor or X-ray technician — regardless, you didn’t choose them, but you’re still stuck paying out-of-network costs. You wouldn’t be alone: The problem of surprise medical billing is so rampant that 1 in 5 Americans who visit an emergency room or have surgery receive them.
Thankfully, the PIRG healthcare team led by Health Care Campaigns Director Patricia Kelmar – a returned alum – helped pass The No Surprises Act in 2020, and was the lead consumer advocate quoted in this New York Times piece. The landmark consumer protection law went into effect on January 1, 2022 and will protect millions of Americans from unfair and exorbitant “surprise medical bills,” keep consumers out of the middle of payment disputes and address high health costs by setting up a fair way to compensate out-of-network providers. It aims to address two important things: First, it bans most surprise medical bills in situations where patients have no control over who is providing their care, and second, it will result in lowering health care costs because it sets up an arbitration system to put an end to an abusive billing practice that lets certain specialties charge whatever they want.
Some medical providers are actively fighting the implementation of the new law. The American Hospital Association (AHA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) have filed a lawsuit against the federal government to prevent some parts of the law from going into effect. Earlier this month, U.S.PIRG filed comments in support of the rules the AMA and AHA are fighting.
PIRG was instrumental in passing several state laws that led to the No Surprises Act and was active in the 2019 Congressional battle against private-equity backed opponents of the federal bill. Since then, PIRG has been educating consumers about their rights; our patient guide is part of this effort.
Airline refunds
Another big problem that many holiday travelers have experienced are canceled flights related to the pandemic. Travelers have been trying to look into a crystal ball since spring 2020, booking future trips when it looks like things are improving, only to have those hopes of carefree travel dashed when the next COVID wave hits. Meanwhile, most airlines are only offering vouchers, not refunds, when passengers cancel their flights due to concerns about COVID-19. Currently, refunds are only required by law when the airline cancels the flight itself, not when consumers cancel flights out of concern for their health.
Have you persisted but hit a wall? Take it from Jack Nortey, a friend of PIRG advocate Jacob van Cleef, who gave permission to share his story with you:
“After American Airlines and United refused to offer a cash refund and only provided a voucher, I asked my bank to void the transaction as fraudulent and get a cash refund—it worked. I recommend this to everyone, but the point is you shouldn’t have to. Businesses should refund cash as the default option.”
Data from the Department of Transportation (DOT) show that refunds – or lack of – have been the No. 1 complaint category against U.S. airlines since summer 2020. PIRG’s new research, released in the Not First Class report that came out in December 2021, shows complaints increased by 460 percent from February 2020 – the month before COVID hit – through August 2021, mostly due to complaints about refunds. Refunds make up 80 percent of complaints since March 2020, up from only 6 percent in the summer of 2019.
In March 2022, the Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory Committee will hold another meeting to discuss refunds. The committee will likely send a recommendation to the DOT about what to do about refunds moving forward.
Actions:
Share the Surprise Billing Patient Protections tip guide or the “How to get an airline ticket refund” guide on social media to spread the message far and wide and help folks who may have been affected.
Before the March 2022 meeting, sign this petition by USPIRG calling on the DOT to allow travelers to be able to get refunds for flights that are canceled. You can also give the DOT a call at 202-366-4000.
Write a letter to the editor (LTE) of your local paper, especially if you have a personal story to share that relates to either of these issues. Click here to get started and find newspapers in your area. In case you need a refresher, here’s a how-to on LTE writing on page 51 of the Student PIRG’s Activist Toolkit. And if your LTE gets published, please be sure to let us know!
