Lawmakers Reach Surprise Billing Deal That Relies On Arbitration

House Ways & Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-MA) on Friday (Dec. 11) convinced his colleagues to back a provider-friendly fix to ending surprise medical billing. All four health care committees of jurisdiction agreed to the fix, which relies on arbitration, without benchmark pay rates, and creates an arbitration system for out-of-network surprise medical bills centered around the median in-network payment for services. Lawmakers hope to pass it by the end of the year. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell...