WASHINGTON, D.C., May 28, 2026 – The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) issued the following statement today in response to the Trump Administration’s release of a rule to address severe and negative consequences of the Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) process under the No Surprises Act (NSA). The statement can be attributed to ERIC President and CEO, James Gelfand.
“Since President Trump signed it into law just over 5 years ago, the No Surprises Act has protected patients from millions of unexpected medical bills. Unfortunately, NSA’s Independent Dispute Resolution process is clearly being gamed by providers at the expense of patients and employers, who are now facing higher, not lower costs. Instead, a law that was projected to produce billions in savings is now resulting in billions of added costs. The ‘math isn’t mathing.’”
“Unfortunately, this rule is a missed opportunity to restore the balance that Congress intended – a balance that has been badly warped by activist courts and predatory provider interests. Without stronger guardrails and more meaningful reforms, the gaming by providers of a flawed arbitration process will continue as evidenced by the unfair and unrealistically inflated provider charges employers are seeing come through the current IDR process at a break-neck speed, and without any opportunity to appeal. We look forward to working with the agencies and with Congress to fix this problem: we can protect patients from surprise medical bills, pay providers fairly, and still lower health care costs for everyone – exactly as Congress intended when they passed the NSA.”
