WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) released a joint statement following the announcement of a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on legislation to lower health care costs announced today by the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee. The agreement will include several health care provisions championed by Cassidy, Hassan and Bennet, including a solution to stop patients from receiving surprise bills for medical services not paid by their insurance.
In their release announcing the bipartisan and bicameral agreement, HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and House E&C Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) commended Cassidy and Hassan “for their leadership and dedicated work in developing the solution that ends the harmful practice of surprise medical billing.”
“We appreciate committee leadership for their work to progress efforts to end the practice of surprise medical billing, including by adding a simple arbitration safety valve to help providers and plans resolve these billing disputes,” said Senators Cassidy, Hassan and Bennet. “As our discussions continue around the final details, we are encouraged that we’re one step closer to giving patients these vital protections. Patients have waited long enough, and we remain hopeful that we can get this done by the end of the year.”
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