GAO REPORT ON PAYMENT OF CERTAIN MEDICAL EXPENSES

SEC. 734. GAO REPORT ON PAYMENT OF CERTAIN MEDICAL EXPENSES (a) Review.—The Comptroller General shall review and evaluate the practices under various insurance plans with respect to payments to hospitals for charges for medical services in cases in which the hospital does not impose a legal obligation on patients to pay for such services. In the review, the Comptroller General shall— (1) review the practices with respect to such payments of private sector insurance plans, including self-insured plans, as well as federally sponsored or funded programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Federal Employees' Health Benefit Plan; and (2) provide an assessment and comparison of the practices with respect to such payments under regulations of the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS), together with such recommendations for changing such practices as the Comptroller General considers appropriate and an estimate of the costs involved in carrying out such recommendations. (b) Report.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report containing the results of the review and evaluation required under subsection (a).