With Congress considering another relief package to help Americans weather the COVID-19 pandemic and a national economic crisis, families continue to be in urgent need of federal help to protect them from surprise medical bills.
Surprise medical billing is a predatory practice that occurs when patients receive unexpected and often expensive bills from hospitals and physicians that are not in their insurance network. These bills can occur in emergency and non-emergency situations, and often come from providers patients do not choose, such as emergency room doctors, anesthesiologists, assistant surgeons, and labs. While some states have surprise billing protections or emergency regulations to protect patients from surprise bills during the pandemic, comprehensive federal reform is needed to provide protection to all Americans. There is a bipartisan compromise on the table that Congress could include in a relief package — ending this predatory practice and lowering health care costs for patients.
In a new video, Arnold Ventures explains surprise medical billing and the threat it poses to families, taxpayers, and employers — and highlights how Congress could act to end it.
