My name is Lucas Dean and I am a graduating senior at Northeastern University. Over my time as a journalism student, I have reported on a wide variety of topics and issues, ranging from the opioid epidemic to the refugee crisis in Greece to queer religious spaces. The one thing that I never thought I would report on is the inner-workings of the health care industry. It was an issue that seemed overly complicated and dry. 

 

However, after hearing from friends and families about their experiences receiving surprise medical bills and the stress that results from them, I wanted to do more digging. I began officially reporting on the topic last semester and found myself more and more interested in surprise medical billing – a practice that basically everyone agrees is wrong yet many are still vulnerable to. With the guidance and mentorship of Professor Carlene Hempel, who oversaw the project as my advisor, I was able to expand on previous reporting through an Honors in the Discipline course. In this report, I hope to give the reader a better understanding of how we got here and the legislation that is increasingly being implemented to protect Americans from receiving surprise medical bills.