Bill to Reform No Surprises Act Arbitration Process Introduced in House

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, introduced legislation to fix the No Surprises Act arbitration process, which he says has been exploited to increase health insurance premiums.

The Lower Premiums, Faster Payments Act, introduced on Oct. 8, aims to amend the No Surprises Act by replacing the current arbitration system with a payment system that is based on median in-network rates and requires that payments be issued within 30 days of a claim being filed.

While the No Surprises Act has helped protect patients from surprise bills, Pallone said in a statement, the independent dispute resolution process “is clearly not working. A few bad actors -- largely backed by private equity -- are gaming the system, creating backlogs, delaying payments, and driving up premiums. The Lower Premiums, Faster Payments Act will replace the broken arbitration system with a fair and timely payment process that lowers people’s health insurance premiums.”

Full text of the bill can be found on the Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats website.

Source:

https://democrats-energycommerce.house.gov/media/press-releases/pallone-introduces-lower-premiums-faster-payments-act