Washington, D.C. February 3, 2026– The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) today warned Indiana lawmakers that legislation under consideration risks increasing the cost of healthcare and destabilizing health benefits for Hoosier families.
During a hearing before the House Insurance Committee, Dillon Clair, Director of State Advocacy for ERIC, testified in opposition to SB 189, which would bar insurers from implementing financial incentives for medical facilities to reduce the number of out-of-network providers working there, arguing it would undermine the No Surprises Act’s (NSA) policy goals of protecting patients while controlling health care costs. He noted that the NSA’s Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process, meant as a last-resort tool to settle disputes about out-of-network claims, has increasingly been abused and is now driving cost inflation and inefficiency. SB 189, he warned, would harm Indiana’s employer-sponsored insurance system, covering 3.46 million residents – more than half the state. The quote below can be attributed to Dillon Clair, Director of State Advocacy for ERIC.
“We can all agree that surprise billing should never have a catastrophic impact on patients, who are already contending with high health care costs. That is why stakeholders on both sides of the aisle worked with President Trump and Congress to pass the No Surprises Act. Guardrails matter, and financial incentives that encourage hospitals to use in-network providers for non-emergency care are one such guardrail that gives patients confidence when they seek care. When these guardrails are removed, we don’t create fairness or access – we create quicksand, and eventually the entire system sinks. We believe that SB 189 is the wrong solution. The right solution is to ensure the spirit of the NSA is preserved and that the law’s IDR process, which has burdened the system and led to billions in wasteful spending, is not abused.”
Read ERIC’s full testimony here.