Friday evening, the congressional committees of jurisdiction released a new bipartisan, bicameral proposal to address surprise medical billing, which is intended for action before the 116th Congress adjourns in a few days. As the attached summary shows, the proposal offers strong patient protections, and it includes many provisions that represent a distinct improvement over previous bills. Nonetheless, the AMA still has significant questions and concerns about many of the bill’s details, and we are extremely concerned that it will lead to reduced private sector payment rates at a time when physician practices are already struggling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For those reasons, we sent the attached letter to Congress today expressing the AMA’s opposition to passing the bill in its current form, and offering to work with them in these last days to address our concerns.
There are many extremely important issues that need to be addressed before Congress adjourns for the holidays, including the expiration of the 2% Medicare sequester moratorium and the cuts many physicians will experience as a result of budget neutrality adjustments made in the 2021 Medicare physician payment schedule. Your AMA is working hard toward resolving these issues and more as Congress winds down.