Way and Means Committee Republicans Tells Administration to Follow Surprise Medical Billing Law

Republican members on the House Ways and Means Committee sent a joint letter to Administration officials highlighting issues with the implementation of the No Surprises Act, a law to address surprise medical billing.  In the letter, the lawmakers call on the Administration to follow the law’s intent on implementing the legislation, specifically on transparency and ensuring a fair and balanced arbitration process. The letter was sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and follows a September 19 Committee hearing that highlighted ongoing problems with the law’s implementation. ASA applauds the members of the House Ways and Means Committee for their ongoing efforts to increase transparency and ensure accountability on the government’s implementation of NSA.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists has been closely involved in efforts to improve the NSA and its implementation, with a focus on fixing the unreasonable qualifying payment amounts (QPA), removing overly restrictive batching rules and prohibiting insurers’ refusal to pay physicians who prevail in the dispute resolution process, and other abusive insurer activities.  There are four separate lawsuits led by the Texas Medical Association of which ASA has been involved targeting unfair or inappropriate implementation of the law.

Read more about the ongoing NSA issues here.