Since Congress began seriously considering legislation to address surprise bills earlier this year, GNYHA has been actively educating Capitol Hill lawmakers on what effective surprise billing legislation should accomplish. Many discussions have centered on New York State’s successful surprise billing law, which GNYHA helped negotiate. Unfortunately, lawmakers in Washington are hesitant to use New York as a template because the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said it would likely cost the Federal government tens of billions of dollars if implemented.
Last week, GNYHA staff met with CBO director Phillip Swagel and his staff to educate them on New York’s surprise billing model and to better understand CBO’s analysis and assumptions. Also at the meeting were Representatives Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Joe Morelle (D-NY), Northwell Health staff, the House Committee on Ways & Means, and the Healthcare Association of New York State. We appreciated the opportunity to discuss surprise billing with CBO and hope they use our information to ensure that their projections are as accurate as possible.
GNYHA remains engaged with all Congressional committees with jurisdiction over this issue to discuss the provider perspective. We continue to circulate our surprise billing principles on Capitol Hill, and we encourage you to use them in your advocacy efforts. We will keep our members apprised of any developments related to this issue on the Federal level.