Surprise Medical-Bill Legislation Gets Boost in Bipartisan Deal

Doctors would be able to take out-of-network charges to arbitration more easily under an agreement reached between House and Senate legislators to stop patients from receiving unexpectedly high medical bills.

The agreement would lower the threshold for taking disputed bills to arbitration to $750 instead of the $1,250 level approved in July by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Legislation approved in June by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions doesn’t include arbitration.

The deal struck by Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, and House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders Frank Pallone of ...