Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 30. TRADE AND COMMERCE

CHAPTER 14. UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES AND CONSUMER PROTECTION

Part 26. Credit Report Submission Prohibitions

Balance Billing Information -- Notification To Ambulance Companies

30-14-2602. Balance billing information -- notification to ambulance companies. (1) (a) Subject to one of the conditions under subsection (1)(b), an ambulance service licensed in this state may not submit to a consumer reporting agency information intended to affect a patient's credit report because the patient has not made full payment of a bill for ambulance services.

(b) The prohibition under subsection (1)(a) is effective if:

(i) the patient's insurer or health plan has paid for the ambulance services based on the in-network or out-of-network charges outlined in the patient's insurance plan; or

(ii) an uninsured patient has paid toward the bill and filed with the attorney general's office a complaint regarding the bill as being an unfair trade practice because the bill is not based on usual and customary charges in the state.

(2) An ambulance service that transfers a bill to a collection agency shall state that the collection agency may not report as delinquent to a consumer reporting agency a bill covered by subsection (1).

History: En. Sec. 1(1), (2), Ch. 315, L. 2017.