Following today’s analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on cost-savings for patients as part of the benchmark provision in the Lower Health Care Costs Act, the Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing issued the following statement:

“Today’s CBO score shows that a payment benchmark for out-of-network services is the obvious and best approach for millions of families that have faced bankrupting surprise medical bills. The latest CBO analysis finds that the benchmark proposal will lower overall costs for consumers and put an end to unconscionable price-gouging by certain medical providers, and increasingly, Wall Street-backed private equity groups that exploit patients at their most vulnerable.”

“By establishing a payment benchmark aligned with local in-network rates, out-of-network providers will continue to be reimbursed at competitive, market-based levels, and patients will no longer be taken advantage of in the emergency room or on the operating table. To protect consumers, employers and taxpayers, it’s critically important that policymakers maintain the benchmark protections and avoid arbitration proposals that would raise health care costs for everyone.”

For more information on the benefits of a local, market-based benchmark for out-of-network charges, click here. To learn more about how consensus is building in Washington for a benchmark solution, click here.