Washington, D.C. – A new survey released this week found that the landmark protections in the No Surprises Act (NSA) prevented over 2 million potential surprise medical bills in the first 2 months of 2022. Further, the survey and analysis project that should this trend hold, more than 12 million surprise bills will be avoided in 2022 because of the law.
“At a time when families are struggling with inflation and rising costs, this new data is incredibly important and shows how successful the No Surprises Act has been at protecting millions of families from financially devastating surprise medical bills,” said Frederick Isasi, Executive Director of Families USA. “We hope the administration will defend the No Surprises Act from the corporate greed behind the lawsuits that are trying to dismantle the law and could make it harder for families to put food on the table, pay for necessities, or even stay in their homes.”
Conducted by AHIP and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), the survey found the NSA is delivering on what the law was written to do: Provide relief to families from surprise out-of-network medical bills.
“This data showing approximately one million patients are protected from surprise bills a month gives the administration a million reasons to finalize its interim final rules”, said Tim Bartl, President and CEO, HR Policy Association. “Patients and employees already have enough to worry about with rising inflation – that shouldn’t be made worse by backtracking on the surprise billing rules in ways that will increase employee health care premiums and deductibles and drive up employer costs.”
Despite this new evidence demonstrating the NSA is working for millions of consumers, certain hospital and provider organizations have filed seven lawsuits challenging the law. Recent polling conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing found that nearly 8 in 10 voters are concerned that lawsuits from physician and hospital organizations could delay or overturn the patient protections in the NSA.
Patients and their families waited far too long for the critical protections in the NSA. The new survey reinforces that the No Surprises Act should be implemented in its entirety to protect families and prevent the financial harm caused by surprise out-of-network medical bills.
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About Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing
Members of the Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing, which represents leading employer groups, unions, health insurance providers, health organizations and the tens of millions of people they employ and serve each day, support meaningful solutions to end surprise medical billing.
About Families USA
Families USA, a leading national voice for health care consumers, is dedicated to the achievement of high quality, affordable health care and improved health for all.
About HR Policy Association
HR Policy Association is the lead organization representing Chief Human Resource Officers at major employers. The Association consists of over 400 of the largest corporations doing business in the United States and globally, and these employers are represented in the organization by their most senior human resource executive. Collectively, their companies employ more than 10 million employees in the United States, over nine percent of the private sector workforce, and 20 million employees worldwide. These senior corporate officers participate in the Association because of their commitment to improving the direction of human resource policy.
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