On October 7, 2008, the New York Insurance Department and New York Department of Health will be holding a joint meeting to address out-of-network insurance coverage.  The hearing will be held in response to numerous consumer complaints regarding bills from specialists whom the consumers did not know were out-of-network.  Most of these consumers received care from in-network providers and related care from specialty providers, but later discovered that the specialty providers were out-of-network.

The hearing is open to the public and is scheduled to take place in Albany, New York at 10:00 AM.  The Insurance Department and Department of Health will consider amendments to statutes and regulations to address these issues.  To view the official press release, click here.  We will update this post with any important developments related to this hearing.