Nothing is going to slow down Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier from asking the Florida Legislature to prevent insured patients from being hit with high out-of-pocket costs for emergency medical transportation.

Not even pending recommendations from Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate Sha'Ron James, who a year ago assembled a working group on emergency medical transportation to study the problem and recommend solutions.

Altmaier last week shepherded through the Florida Health Insurance Advisory Board a recommendation to ban what is known as “balance billing” for emergency medical transportation, despite concerns from several board members. Altmaier chairs the advisory board, with seven of the board members agreeing to approve the legislative recommendation.