At Bipartisan Policy Center, Senators Hassan & Cassidy Discuss Bipartisan Legislation to End Surprise Medical Bills

WASHINGTON – Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today discussed their bipartisan efforts to end surprise medical bills at a panel discussion hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

You can watch the full discussion here.

During the conversation, the Senators took questions from Bipartisan Policy Center President Jason Grumet and members of the public about why the legislation is important to their constituents, the current prospects for the bill, and how they came to work together on this and other health care legislation.

“Senator Cassidy and I partnered up on this issue because we hear from constituent after constituent who has experienced surprise medical bills, sometimes to the tune of thousands of dollars. As one mom told me, a surprise medical bill for her son was equal to about out one year of his college tuition,” said Senator Hassan. “People who follow the rules and are doing everything right shouldn’t be stuck with sky-high bills. There’s good bipartisan momentum on this issue, and Senator Cassidy and I will keep working to find common ground and get this bill passed into law.”

“Patients lose and vested interests win when those interests create a self-fulfilling prophecy that says nothing is getting done,” said Senator Cassidy, M.D. “Our solution to end surprise medical billing and protect patients has broad bipartisan support from Republicans and Democrats.”

Senators Hassan and Cassidy have led efforts to address surprise medical bills and worked for months with members from both parties to craft the STOP Surprise Medical Bills Act to end this practice. In May, Senators Hassan and Cassidy joined President Trump at a White House event on the need to address this issue. In June, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee – on which both Senators serve – passed legislation to end surprise medical bills as part of a broader package of legislation to address health care costs called the Lower Health Care Costs Act. Senators Hassan and Cassidy are continuing to work with the HELP Committee and colleagues from both parties in the Senate and House to incorporate additional feedback and address this pressing issue facing patients. 

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