By Phil Gregory, WBGO News Trenton. May 9, 2012

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Doctors and Republican lawmakers at Statehouse news conference (photo by Phil Gregory/WBGO News)

A proposed Health Care Disclosure Act is intended to make sure New Jersey residents know whether their medical care is covered in their insurance network plan. Some provisions of the bill are meeting with resistance.

The measure would require doctors to make three good faith efforts to collect payment from patients for out-of-network services and keep those financial records for seven years. Ira Monka, a family practice physician in Cedar Knolls, says that would be a hardship.

Were checking their health not their financial wealth. We want to take care of patients and not have to deal with paperwork that adds to the burden and cost of delivering simple family practice care.

Assembly Republican Conference Leader Dave Rible also opposes that requirement.

Its almost like this is the doctors collection law or the doctors penalization act because these guys are just trying to survive. These men and women who are working very hard to stay here in the state, were chasing them out with this legislation.

The primary sponsor of the measure, Democrat Gary Schaer, says the goal is to increase transparency about patients medical care costs.

When you go to have an elective procedure you should have the right know whether all of the people involved in that surgery, the anesthesiologist, the pathologist, the radiologist, whether theyre in network or out of network. There are financial consequences you want to be aware of.

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