Law360 (August 9, 2019, 3:05 PM EDT) — When State Net Capitol Journal reported in August 2017 on medical balance billing — the direct charging of patients by health care providers for services that aren’t fully covered at the providers’ rate by the patients’ insurance — nearly half of the states had passed legislation addressing the practice, but some were saying congressional action was needed. Two years later there are more state laws on the books but still no federal enactments.

As of January 2017, 21 states had enacted laws or regulations that provided at least some consumer protections against balance billing, according to a report by the Commonwealth…