The Perils of Government-Mandated Arbitration
Protecting patients from surprise bills requires us to address the market failure that drives the problem in the first place. Arbitration is a failed remedy that will incentivize exorbitant charges moving forward. Learn more about why arbitration will continue to lead to sky-high charges from out-of-network providers and higher premiums for all of us.
IDR Is Now A +$22.4 Billion Problem
Untenable and unsustainable IDR costs are driving up premiums for employers and employees, and new data from researchers at Georgetown University uncovers how out-of-network providers’ abuse and misuse of arbitration has become a $22 billion affordability crisis....
ICYMI: Mercer: “On the Hill, Employers Sound the Alarm on IDR”
Abuse of the No Surprises Act’s independent dispute resolution (IDR) process by certain private equity-backed providers and IDR firms continues to drive up premium costs for employers, unions, and workers. POLITICO recently reported that one national health insurer is...
ICYMI: New York Times Lays Out Why Arbitration Works for Baseball but Not for Healthcare
When Congress wrote the No Surprises Act, it borrowed its arbitration model from Major League Baseball. A new analysis from the New York Times lays out how that system has failed in healthcare. More than 2.5 million disputes went to arbitration last year, compared...
Niskanen Center: “New data, same problem: No Surprises Act arbitration abuse persists”
IDR abuse is accelerating. That's the takeaway from a new analysis by the Niskanen Center, which dug into CMS's latest data on the No Surprises Act's arbitration process, covering the second half of 2025. Disputes are up nearly 75% year-over-year, providers are still...
IDR Is a Gold Rush for Certain Private Equity-Backed Providers. Independent Physicians Are Getting Squeezed.
Last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a rare warning: the intended cost savings for employers and employees under the No Surprises Act are in jeopardy because the law's dispute backstop, the Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process,...
ICYMI: STAT: “How a hospital operator used the No Surprises Act to fuel a stunning financial turnaround”
STAT's Tara Bannow recently published an investigation into Nutex Health, a hospital operator whose financial turnaround from near bankruptcy has been fueled by abusing the No Surprises Act's arbitration process. Her reporting builds on the growing body of evidence...
IDR Keeps Making Headlines – For All The Wrong Reasons
In The New York Times, the headline was "Trump Administration Says Surprise Billing Law Is Being 'Gamed' by Doctors." In The Wall Street Journal, it was “Medical Billing Arbitration Paid Out $15 Billion to Providers in Surprise Bill Disputes." In STAT, it was “This...
NYT: “Trump Administration Says Surprise Billing Law Is Being ‘Gamed’ by Doctors”
Just when you thought IDR awards couldn’t be any more outrageous, the latest data released by CMS confirms that the extreme and excessive IDR payouts in 2025 alone have totaled nearly $15 billion – a 275% increase from 2024. IDR abuse is the healthcare affordability...
ICYMI: WSJ: Medical Billing Arbitration Paid Out $15 Billion to Providers in Surprise Bill Disputes
The Wall Street Journal previewed new CMS data that show $15 billion in independent dispute resolution (IDR) awards to out-of-network providers under the No Surprises Act’s federal arbitration process in 2025. The staggering amount — far exceeding the previous...
CASMB Calls on the Trump Administration to Curb Rampant Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Within the No Surprises Act’s Independent Dispute Resolution Process
In a new letter to the Secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Treasury, the Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing (CASMB) urged prompt action on the “systemic cost challenges” stemming from...