From the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (http://www.pahealthaccess.org):
In the midst of a very difficult period for many of us, we have some good news to share. Last month, Congress passed the “No Surprises Act” as part of its latest COVID relief package, which was signed into law by President Trump late in December. This new law will effectively put an end to many – but not all – surprise medical bills for all Americans.
Overall, this is great news, and it simply wouldn’t have happened without the many people who spoke out about how harmful surprise medical bills are. We thank all of you who spoke out, shared your stories, and contacted your lawmakers about this issue. It worked.
Importantly, PHAN’s work on this issue isn’t done. For starters, ground ambulance bills, a major source of surprise medical bills, are not covered by the law. Also, the law does not take effect until 2022, and we will be carefully monitoring the rollout to make sure that the No Surprises Act provides real relief for Pennsylvanians and to push lawmakers to expand the scope of the law.
If you receive a surprise medical bill before or after the No Surprises Act comes into effect, we encourage you to call PHAN’s helpline at 877-570-3642 to discuss your options for getting the bill resolved.
If you want to learn more about the No Surprises Act, we’ve put together a blog post on the Top 10 Things You Need to Know.
As always, thank you for your advocacy, and be in touch with your questions and thoughts.
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