Washington, D.C.- Today, Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Republican Leader of the Health Subcommittee Brett Guthrie (R-KY) released the following statement after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its rule on surprise medical billing.
“People should know how much they are going to need to pay for health care- especially in the most stressful medical situations of their lives. That’s why we took strong bipartisan action in the last Congress to end the harmful practice of surprise medical billing. When we sent our bill to President Trump’s desk, it was proof of what is possible when Republicans and Democrats plow the hard ground and work together to lower costs and empower patients.
“Today’s rulemaking announcement builds on our unified work to end this practice once for all- so that no patient is stuck with a surprise, devastating, and massive medical bill with nowhere to turn. We look forward to working with the administration to ensure this rule meets the goal of giving patients more control over their health care needs and choices."
NOTE: On Dec. 21, 2020, the House passed the end-of-year omnibus and bipartisan COVID-19 package, which included provisions to end the egregious practice of surprise billing. President Donald Trump signed this into law on Dec. 28, 2020.
