Rep. Courtney, House Education & Labor Committee Vote to Approve H.R. 5800, the Ban Surprise Billing Act

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) and his colleagues on the House Education & Labor Committee voted to approve the Ban Surprise Billing Act (H.R. 5800) during a legislative markup session. The Ban Surprise Billing Act is a bipartisan bill, supported by both the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Education & Labor Committee, that would protect patients from devastating surprise medical bills. H.R. 5800 would provide important consumer protections for Americans who receive health care coverage through their employer, and for those enrolled in the individual market. With the Committee's vote to authorize the Ban Surprise Billing Act today, the bill may now be scheduled for a final vote by the full House of Representatives.

"Surprise medical bills are a crisis waiting to happen for so many families in eastern Connecticut and across the country," said Congressman Courtney. "When people are ill, they need to able to focus on working with their doctor to get better – the last thing they should have to worry about is how to safeguard themselves against complex billing technicalities that result in surprise, sky-high medical bills. Surprise billing impacts people in every Congressional district in America, and the Ban Surprise Billing Act will help to finally give patients the financial confidence and peace of mind they deserve. I commend Chairman Scott and Ranking Member Foxx for working together to advance this bipartisan bill, I was proud to support it, and I'm looking forward to voting to pass it when it comes before the House for a final vote."

The Ban Surprise Billing Act provides important consumer protections for Americans who receive health care coverage through their employer and for those enrolled in the individual market. The bill:

• Protects patients from receiving surprise bills by limiting cost-sharing to their plan's in-network rate and prohibiting out-of-network providers from sending balance bills that exceed the in-network rate;
• Protects air ambulance patients and takes steps to address ground ambulance surprise bills;
• Builds on various bipartisan agreements for resolving payment disputes between providers and payers;
  • For amounts less than or equal to $750 (or $25,000 for air ambulance services), relies on a market-based benchmark of the median in-network rate of providing similar items or services in the same geographic area; and
  • For amounts above $750 ($25,000 for air ambulance services), providers and payers may elect to use independent dispute resolution (IDR) to determine a fair payment amount.

The Ban Surprise Billing Act also includes several bipartisan reforms to improve transparency so patients can better understand their coverage, including:

• Requires health plans to maintain up-to-date and accurate provider directories;
• Improves consumer access to information regarding expected cost-sharing; and,
• Improves transparency regarding in-network and out-of-network deductibles and out-of-pocket limitations.

The bill is led by Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) and Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC).

For more information on the Ban Surprise Billing Act, click here.

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