Episode 40: No Surprises, Please: The Twisty Tale of 'Surprise' Medical Billing

American Benefits Podcast

The 2020 enactment of legislation to eliminate “surprise” medical billing was not just the most significant health care coverage legislation since the Affordable Care Act. It was also the culmination of a remarkable show of (relatively) swift and bipartisan lawmaking.

Since that enactment, however, the story has taken dizzying twists and turns, with more to come as the regulatory implementation phase gives way to nationwide litigation over the Biden administration's rules.

In this episode, host Jason Hammersla speaks to Katie Keith, a member of the research faculty for the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms, and who has been following the surprise billing saga closely as a contributor to the Health Affairs blog. Keith puts the 2020 law in context, explains how regulatory agencies have sought to implement the law and breaks down the six different lawsuits scattered throughout the country.

You can find Katie Keith's writing on Health Affairs' Following The ACA Forefront article series and the recently launched Health Reform newsletter. You can also find her recent article on the surprise billing litigation at The Commonwealth Fund.