Washington, D.C. – The Coalition Against Surprise Medical Billing issued the following statement following confirmation of Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to oversee the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

“We applaud the confirmation of Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to lead CMS and look forward to working with her to ensure patients are fully protected from surprise medical bills. While the No Surprises Act was an important first step in taking patients out of the middle of billing disputes, how the law is implemented will have significant consequences on consumers’ health care costs and their trust in the health system. As we have seen in states that have moved forward with their own surprise medical billing reforms, private equity firms and out-of-network providers can take advantage of new loopholes and continue to leverage arbitration to create a costly shell-game for consumers. In the end, we all end up paying out-of-network providers’ exorbitant costs through higher premiums.”

“Our members look forward to working with the Biden Administration as well as Congress to make sure that implementation of the No Surprises Act provides full protection against these unfair charges and costs.”

To view the Coalition’s full policy platform, click here.