U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) commended passage of the year-end omnibus funding bill and COVID relief package, which includes bipartisan legislation he introduced to expand restrictions on charging healthcare plan holders out-of-network rates for certain services.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday approved the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, H.R. 133, which includes the No Surprises Act, H.R. 3630, introduced in July 2019 by Rep. Walden and bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“This is a historic day for patients and their families who will soon be protected from surprise medical bills, correcting a clear market failure that has burdened millions of patients with crushing medical debts through no fault of their own,” the two congressmen said in a joint statement released on Dec. 21.
The lawmakers noted that under H.R. 3630, “Americans will no longer be caught in the middle of out-of-network surprise billing disputes between their doctors and insurance companies,” because the bill creates new consumer protections and establishes a fair payment resolution process between insurers and healthcare providers.
“The Energy and Commerce Committee has a long tradition of working in a bipartisan way, and we can think of no better example than the effort it took over the last two years to get this bill across the finish line,” said Rep. Walden and Rep. Pallone. “It was an uphill battle from the start against deep-pocketed interest groups, but we continued to push and were joined in our fight by other health leaders in the Senate and the House.”