Public Resources

The question of surprise medical billing and how to protect patients without rewarding certain providers’ bad behavior rages on.  Please see Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander’s excellent remarks on the Senate floor yesterday.  His strong remarks showcased the remarkable extent of bipartisan engagement and agreement across several Senate committees to lower health care costs.  Ending surprise billing with a fair local benchmark rate is crucial to this effort.

Please find attached a joint sign-on letter asking Congress to support legislation to lower health care costs. This letter is particularly timely because as Congress heads into the August recess, the Senate is preparing for a possible vote on the Lower Health Care Costs Act, a bill that could significantly benefit employers and patients. At the same time, the House is considering whether they want to focus narrowly on the issue of surprise medical billing, or whether they want to expand their effort to match the cost-control and transparency improvements the Senate is working on. The letter asks the Senate and House to “go big” and make a real difference for patients. 

Sent 7/31/2019