New legislation to allow patients to continue treatment uninterrupted

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- New legislation signed into law Monday will allow patients with serious medical problems to continue their treatments and surgeries uninterrupted.

The new law will mean doctors can continue to provide treatment even if they no longer participate in a new health plan.

The bill's creator said there would also be no additional costs on patients' medical bills.

"So suppose somebody was preparing for surgery, the surgeon had already did the pre-op work, the surgery wasn't scheduled until 2014 and then when the plan switched they could still see the same surgeon instead of saying I have to go find a new one and start all over again," Assm. Richard Pan, M.D., said.

According to Health Access California, roughly 380,000 people were disrupted by health care plan cancellations this year.