Starting January 1, 2022, consumers have new billing protections when getting emergency care and non-emergency care from out-of-network providers at in-network facilities. Click here to read your rights and protections against surprise medical bills.

Currently, if consumers have health coverage and get care from an out-of-network provider, their health plan usually won’t cover the entire out-of-network cost. This could leave them with higher costs than if they’d been seen by an in-network provider.

In many cases, today the out-of-network provider can bill consumers for the difference between the charges the provider bills, and the amount paid by the consumer’s health plan. This is known as balance billing. An unexpected balance bill is called a surprise bill.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 was enacted on December 27, 2020 and contains many provisions to help protect consumers from surprise bills starting in 2022, including the No Surprises Act under title I and Transparency under title II. Learn more about protections for consumers, understanding costs in advance to avoid surprise bills, and what happens when payment disagreements arise after receiving medical care visit https://www.cms.gov/nosurprises/consumers.