Press Releases

WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M., (OH-02) issued the following statement regarding the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Labor, and Treasury Department joint issuance of an interim final rule entitled “Requirements Related to Surprise Billing; Part II”:

“This HHS Second Rule on surprise billing is a disaster for patient access. Congress was very clear that we did not intend to create a de facto benchmark for negotiations when creating the arbitration process in the historic, bipartisan No Surprises Act. In crafting the legislation, Congress protected patients and created a balanced process to settle payment disputes between health care providers and insurers. In June, I led 96 of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in calling upon the administration to reflect congressional intent as they implemented these critical patient protections. Unfortunately, this rule does not meet our intent. If unchanged, this rule will disincentivize insurance companies from keeping providers in their networks, limiting care for Americans and threatening the health and safety of our nation. To that end, I will continue working to ensure that the No Surprises Act is implemented in line with congressional intent.”

Congressman Wenstrup was closely involved in the bipartisan negotiations on the final text of the No Surprises Act, which was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

Congressman Wenstrup serves as co-chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus – the largest group of physicians and health care providers in Congress. He is also a co-chair of the Ways & Means Committee’s Rural and Underserved Communities Health Task Force.