Bill delays and weakens rules that stop surprise doctor bills.
H.R. 10788 — Lower Premiums, Faster Payments Act · Filed by Frank Pallone (D-NJ) · Introduced Oct 9, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill stops a neutral process that lets patients and insurers challenge out-of-network doctor charges. This stops through the end of 2027. Starting in 2028, it uses a new method to set out-of-network rates. The new method is based on 2019 prices plus price increases only. The bill also bars courts from reviewing how the government sets these rates.
Who it affects
Patients who get out-of-network doctor bills lose access to neutral challenge processes and face higher charges. Courts lose the power to review the government's method for setting out-of-network rates.
One thing to notice
The bill uses 2019 prices to set out-of-network rates and adjusts them only for price increases. Out-of-network rates may not match what doctor services cost today.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Oct 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 9, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Education and Workforce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- neutral process — A fair way for patients and insurers to challenge out-of-network doctor charges.
- out-of-network — A doctor or hospital that is not part of a patient's insurance plan.
- surprise doctor bills — Unexpected large bills patients get when they see doctors not in their insurance plan.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (31,019 characters) on Oct 13, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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