(Washington, D.C.) - Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement in response to the Biden Administration’s announcement of its plan to enact new health care protections she and former Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) worked to pass in the No Surprises Act that will prevent patients from receiving surprise bills-exorbitant bills for unexpected out-of-network health care.
“I worked with Senator Alexander to pass the No Surprises Act, because no patient seeking the care they need should get hit with an unexpected, exorbitant bill for out-of-network care. I’m pleased to see the Biden Administration working diligently to implement the law I crafted in a comprehensive way and will continue following their work on this closely. This is a significant new protection for families across the country that will save countless patients from being stuck with a bill they thought was covered by their insurance.
“Ending surprise bills is just one of many steps we need to take to bring down health care costs. Surprise or not, health care costs shouldn’t be so high people can’t get the care they need. That’s why I’m pushing to build on our progress here with other bold steps to help people get quality, affordable care like empowering Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, expanding eligibility for Medicare to more people, making tax credits from the American Rescue Plan permanent, and establishing a public option to allow all families to get quality, affordable coverage."
The Biden Administration announced steps to implement the law and
- Require that out-of-network emergency facilities and out-of-network providers at in-network facilities cannot balance bill patients;
- Ensure patients pay no more than in-network cost-sharing;
- Establish a process for notifying patients of their rights and protections.
