A $440,000 Breast Reduction: How Doctors Cashed In on the No Surprises Act and Arbitration - The New York Times

A law meant to end surprise medical billing accidentally created a multibillion-dollar industry that is making doctors richer. Credit... Andres Kudacki for The New York Times Supported by By Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-Katz The reporters analyzed data on more than three million arbitration disputes and reviewed dozens of lawsuits. Dr. Norman Rowe, a plastic surgeon with offices in New York and Florida, advertises on his website that breast reduction surgery usually costs between $15,000 and $25,000. But these days, his practice sometimes earns $440,000 for the procedure. Dr. Rowe has taken full advantage of a new arbitration system, part of a major consumer protection law Congress passed in 2020 with bipartisan majorities. The No Surprises Act was designed to eliminate surprise medical bills, for patients who showed up in the emergency room and were treated by a doctor who didn’t take their insurance. It bars those out-of-network doctors from billing patients directly. Instead, they

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