Last Week, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Richard Neal (D-Mass.), passed the Consumer Protections Against Surprise Medical Bills Act (H.R. 5826) by unanimous voice vote.
MHA has strongly endorsed the bill as it avoids setting fixed benchmark rates, opting instead to allow health insurance companies and providers to negotiate out-of-network reimbursement. If those negotiations fail, under the Ways & Means bill there would be mediated dispute resolution.
At the outset of the committee meeting, Neal said, “The need to protect the patient is something I think we all agree on. But throughout this process we have asked, ‘What is the best approach?’ The doctors and insurance companies blame each other while the patient is caught in the middle. I think the legislation we have before us today is the right approach – it protects the patient, but also recognizes the private market dynamics between insurance plans and providers.”
Neal crafted the no-benchmark surprise billing legislation with the Committee’s Ranking Member Kevin Brady (R-Texas). Neal said he wanted to avoid benchmarks because “we already know insurers are looking for any way they can to pay the least amount possible. They will work to push those rates down, regardless of what it means for community providers like physicians, hospitals, and our constituents who they employ.”
Neal also mentioned MHA, the Mass. Medical Society, along with national healthcare groups that have endorsed the House Ways & Means proposal.