US Asks Court to Reinstate No Surprises Act Arbitration Rule

An agency rule governing procedures for resolving payment disputes between health-care providers and insurers shouldn’t have been tossed out, the government told a federal appeals court.

The US Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Treasury, and their leaders asked the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Wednesday to reinstate an administrative arbitration procedure required by the No Surprises Act.

The 2020 law was intended to shield patients from a practice known as “balance billing,” which left many people with medical bills far higher than they’d expected, the government’s appellate brief said.

The problem arose when patients received ...