Just a Minute! on The Council's Efforts to Fix Surprise Billing IDR

September 18, 2026

Over the spring and summer of this year, we have called attention to the dangerous and unsustainable flaws in the independent dispute resolution (IDR) mechanism of the No Surprises Act of 2020 (NSA), which was supposed to solve the problem of surprise medical billing.

Unfortunately, the IDR process is now rife with abuse by certain providers, who are exploiting the system by overwhelming it with costly disputes. This, in turn, has led to even higher health care costs. Legislation will be necessary to fix this chaos, but a comprehensive solution has thus far been elusive.

In this episode of Just a Minute!, Council President Katy Johnson explains how the Council is engaging policymakers to work toward a solution that fulfills the original goal of the NSA: lowering health care costs.