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The Chair and Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Reps. Pallone (D-NJ) and Walden (R-OR), released draft legislation to address the issue of surprise billing and asked stakeholders to submit comments by May 28. CHA sent a letter to the California congressional delegation outlining our priorities.
The measure would establish a payment standard for out-of-network care using the median contracted rate for an area and would permit states to set their own payment standards for state-regulated plans.
A summary of the bill is also available.
On the Senate side, Sens. Cassidy (R-LA) and Hassan (D-NH) introduced their long-awaited legislation, which also uses the median contracted rate for payment but allows for “baseball-style” arbitration to settle disputes between providers and insurers.
CHA is reviewing these measures and will submit comments. The House Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a hearing on the issue for Tuesday. The committee’s bipartisan leadership is expected to introduce their own legislation, as is the leadership of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
