Watered down approach helps health system lobby at the expense of patients
WASHINGTON, DC (July 17, 2019): The Council for Affordable Health Coverage (CAHC) – a coalition of employers, insurers, life science companies, PBMs, brokers, agents, patient groups, and physician organizations – responded to reports that the House Energy and Commerce Committee has agreed in advance to accept an amendment adding binding arbitration measures to the No Surprises Act in today’s markup.
“Politicians call this a ‘baseball-style’ approach to addressing surprise bills, but those impacted by this policy are not professional baseball players negotiating multimillion-dollar contracts. They are patients caught in a crossfire between health systems and lawyers – and they deserve our best effort to right this wrong,” said CAHC President Joel White.
White continued, “The White House has already signaled its opposition to binding arbitration and the Senate HELP Committee has passed strong, bipartisan legislation that mirrors the Energy and Commerce Committee’s original, commonsense benchmark approach to resolving disputed claims.”
Background:
July 11th – CAHC Cheers House Subcommittee Action on Surprise Billing, Real-Time Benefit Tools
June 25th – CAHC President Joel White co-signs joint statement against binding arbitration (led by Manhattan Institute)
May 23rd- CAHC Applauds Senate HELP Committee’s Bipartisan Health Cost-Saving Package