High Value Health Care

PIRG applauds strong rules against surprise medical bills

Health care

A landmark PIRG-backed law protecting consumers from surprise medical bills just got some teeth.

On Sept. 30, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury proposed regulations dictating how to enforce the federal No Surprises Act. The rules will help ensure that payment disputes between insurers and out-of-network providers don’t result in extra costs for the consumer.

“We’re gratified that regulators implementing surprise billing protections are serious about cost-savings for insured Americans,” said Patricia Kelmar, director of PIRG’s health care campaigns. “We’re looking forward to the coming months when we can help consumers understand their new protections under the No Surprises Act and start seeing real cost-savings.”

PIRG was instrumental in winning passage of the No Surprises Act in late 2020. With the law scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2022, we’ve been working to ensure it will provide Americans the strongest protections against surprise medical bills.

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Learn more about PIRG’s health care campaigns.

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Photo: Studies have shown that nearly 1 in 5 emergency room visits and hospital stays results in a surprise out-of-network bill for the patient. Credit: torange biz free photobank, CC BY 4.0 via torange.biz

Aaron Colonnese

Former Content Creator, Editorial & Creative Team, The Public Interest Network

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