Legislation Passed To Address Surprise Medical Bills Will Take Effect In 2022

By Consumers For Quality Care, on March 4, 2021

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 2 in 3 adults say they worry about unexpected medical bills. This is a very real fear considering 1 in 5 emergency claims and 1 in 6 in-network hospitalizations include at least one out-of-network bill that can cost thousands of dollars.

The No Surprises Act, signed into law at the end of 2020, intends to address that. The legislation will take effect on January 1, 2022 and applies to nearly all private health plans.

The legislation contains key measures to protect consumers from surprise medical bills, including:

• Requiring health care plans to cover surprise medical bills at in-network rates.

• Requiring health care plans to cover surprise medical bills at in-network rates.

• Requiring health care plans to cover surprise medical bills at in-network rates.

• Oversight and enforcement of health plans from the federal government.

However, the first implementation deadline isn’t until July 1, 2021, so it is yet to be seen how effectively the legislation will be carried out.