For Immediate Release
December 16, 2020
Contact: Brian Reardon

Catholic Health Association of the United States statement on the
"No Surprises Act"

Statement by Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, President and Chief Executive Officer, 
Catholic Health Association of the United States

"The Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) and our members firmly support efforts to protect patients from receiving surprise medical bills when they have unavoidable encounters with out-of-network providers or hospital emergency departments while in an in-network hospital. The No Surprises legislation would achieve that goal by defining and ensuring limits on patients' cost-sharing in such situations.

"CHA commends Senate and House Committee Leaders for their efforts to ensure patients are protected from balance billing and for moving away from rate setting proposals which would have negative consequences on access to health care in many communities, especially those served by small and rural hospitals.

"While we welcome the progress toward a balanced approach to address surprise billing, we urge Congress to further improve the independent dispute resolution provisions by eliminating consideration of public payor rates as they are not relevant in private market negotiations. We also urge addressing the billing and arbitration provisions to ensure that they are workable without placing unnecessary burdens on providers.

"As our members continue to care for patients suffering from COVID-19 in communities across the country, we urge members of Congress to reinvest savings generated by the legislation into safety-net programs such as the Medicaid program to ensure our most vulnerable individuals continue to have access to health care and coverage."

» Download a PDF of the statement

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The Catholic Health Association of the United States is the national leadership organization of the Catholic health ministry, representing the largest nonprofit provider of health care services in the nation.

• 1 in 7 patients in the U.S. is cared for in a Catholic hospital each day.
• Catholic health care, which includes more than 2,200 hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, systems, sponsors, and related organizations, serves the full continuum of health care across our nation.