Health industry swarms Washington as surprise billing rules get ironed out

Solving surprise medical bills was supposed to be straightforward. It has been anything but.

Already, eight different providers — all physicians, air ambulances, or hospitals — have sued the government over its first efforts to lay out the specifics of Congress’ 2020 law that protects patients from getting ambushed by many types of medical bills. And now, providers and health insurers are ramping up their finger-pointing, each accusing the other of gumming up the law’s new arbitration process and acting in bad faith.