Dear Secretary Becerra, Secretary Yellen, and Secretary Walsh:
The HR Policy Association welcomes the opportunity to provide comments to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Treasury (“the Departments”) regarding the upcoming rulemaking to implement the No Surprises Act, passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.
The HR Policy Association (“the Association”) is the leading organization representing chief human resource officers of over 390 of the largest employers in the United States. Collectively, their companies provide health care coverage to over 21 million employees and dependents in the United States and spend more than $120 billion annually on health care benefits and related taxes. The American Health Policy Institute, which was created by the Association, serves to examine the challenges employers face in providing health care to their employees and recommends policy solutions to promote the provision of affordable, high-quality, employer-based health care.
As the Departments proceed with the rulemaking, two broad objectives should guide the agencies’ rulemaking decisions: 1) minimize administrative costs associated with the independent dispute resolution (IDR) process; and 2) ensure the rule reduces the cost of health care for employers, employees and their dependents. As written by Congress, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the No Surprises Act would reduce health care costs. The regulations should be drafted to achieve those cost reductions. The Departments should also maximize transparency regarding the publication of information relating to the IDR process so the public and policymakers can identify potential problems and determine if future changes to the regulations or statute are needed.
While we believe the Departments should publish a Request for Information before a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and then a final or interim final rule, we recognize the statutory deadlines for publishing the implementing rules will likely short circuit this process. Recognizing these statutory deadlines, we offer the following recommendations ahead of any proposed or interim final rules the Departments may publish. These recommendations preserve the intent of the No Surprises Act by eliminating surprise medical billing while reducing health care costs.
