General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Does the Affordable Care Act make it illegal for hospitals to demand entire deductibles up front? [View all]enlightenment
(8,830 posts)Searching the entire 2,409 page document using "deductible" (looking at each incident of the word) and "hospital" (again looking at each incident of the word).
Nothing in the legal language that suggests the law prohibits hospitals (or doctors) from demanding the full deductible up-front. It might have been added to another, existing law. That's part of the problem with the ACA - to really get a sense of what it does and doesn't do, you have to have several federal statutes open in front of you.
There is federal law from 1986 (EMTALA) that prohibits emergency rooms from denying emergency care, though that has nothing to do with the question posed. It is possible that is where they made changes, but I doubt it . . . and I don't feel like digging it up to see!