Media Report: Congress Could Approach “Surprise Billing” Issue in Next COVID-19 Rescue Legislation

On Thursday evening, POLITICO’s Susannah Luthi reported that a bipartisan effort to end what’s known as “surprise billing,” long a controversial issue inside the U.S. healthcare industry, might be approached in Congress’s next attempt to help the healthcare industry survive the financial challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Luthi wrote Thursday evening that “The coronavirus crisis is spurring leaders of two congressional health committees to renew bipartisan efforts to end ‘surprise’ medical bills over fears that thousands of Americans exposed to the disease could get hit by staggering balances for out-of-network or emergency care. The issue sharply divided hospitals, doctors and insurers before the outbreak and triggered expensive lobbying campaigns by moneyed health interests and private equity companies with stakes in firms that staff hospitals with physicians.”

Luthi reported that “The new effort by top Republicans on the Senate HELP and House Energy and Commerce committees would wrap language in the next coronavirus stimulus package — or, aides say, any other appropriate legislation — forbidding hospitals from billing patients for costs that insurers refuse to pick up. While Democrats broadly support a billing fix, they've yet to endorse specifically rolling it into the next stimulus.” She reported that “The White House has barred all hospitals or doctors who receive any part of that $100 bailout from sending bills beyond what patients would owe through their insurance plan”; and that “The revived effort in Congress is being led by Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and House Energy and Commerce ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who last year teamed up on an approach that would have settled billing disputes by pegging payments to providers to a federal benchmark based on median in-network rates. It would allow outside arbitration in some cases, such as for billing disputes over $750.”