1/ The bipartisan #surprisebilling compromise announced on Friday represents a critical step forward in protecting consumers from egregious #surprisemedicalbills. It meets three vital principles:
- Consumers would be held harmless from paying out-of-network balance bills;

2/ - With critical guardrails intact, health care costs would not unfairly rise;
- And the protections would apply nationwide except where states have equally robust laws.

3/ Congress should advance this legislation without delay as part of the end of the year government funding and #COVID19 relief package. Consumers and their families need peace of mind that they will not encounter these heinous, unexpected bills.

4/ Under the bipartisan compromise, consumers would be taken out of the middle and held harmless from out-of-network balance bills in both emergency situations and in certain non-emergency situations when they are not able to choose their provider.

5/ Consumers would only be responsible for in-network cost-sharing and these payments would apply to their deductible.

6/ Additionally, consumers would be protected from surprise bills from air ambulance providers, one of the most financially burdensome type of bills a patient can get.

7/ This legislation solves the payment mechanism question between insurers and providers by relying on an independent dispute resolution process.

8/ While this is not the most straightforward policy and we believe it would not address rising health care costs as effectively as a market-based benchmark payment, the compromise does contain important guardrails aimed at containing costs.