TheCBO cited a New York State law similar to the Ruiz-Roe measure thatresulted in increased payments to doctors involved in surprisebills.

The backers of alternative legislation to address the red-hot"surprise medical bill" issue just got asurprise bill of their own from the Congressional BudgetOffice.

According to the news source The Hill, which intercepted a CBO email to "acongressional office," the cost of legislation designed by healthcare systems and physicians to taxpayers would be "double digitbillions" over the next decade.

Backers of the legislation, sponsored by Reps. Raul Ruiz(D-Calif.) and Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), immediately cried foul, claimingthat the estimate was based on flawed data.

Related: Surprise medical bills are becoming more common–andexpensive

But with bipartisian support for a measure reining inthe cost of surprise medical bills, the damage may have alreadybeen done. The CBO is notorious for its objectivity, and its costestimates are routinely accepted as reliable.

As the Hill noted: "In contrast, the approach used in bipartisanbills that have passed out of the House Energy and CommerceCommittee and the Senate Health Committee would both save more than$20 billion over 10 years, the CBO has found."

The CBO cited a New York State law similar to the Ruiz-Roemeasure that resulted in increased payments to doctors involved insurprise bills. Based on the New York experience, the CBO estimatedthat the added payments to physicians alone would result in anincrease of $15 billion over 10 years. Roe took exception to theNew York example, telling The Hill payments to physicians hadfallen.

Perhaps the "consumer" bill with the best chance of making itthrough Congress is that proposed by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR),Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Committee andRep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Chairman of the House Energy andCommerce Committee. The pair continued to turn up the heat onproviders last week when they dragged private equity firms into thediscussion with requests for information about staffing andemergency transportation services they owned.

The CBO report landed on Congress in the midst of bitterlobbying by both sides of the issue. So fierce has the battlebecome that legislators have, at least for now, backed away fromany definitive action. The CBO estimate clearly swings the pendulumin favor of the Walden-Pallone bill. But whether legislators havethe stomach to take on an issue that even President Trump hasdeemed a high priority remains to be seen.

Read more: 

• What to do about surprise bills? It's not soclear-cut.
• Time for federal action against balancebilling?
• Out-of-network providers vex large employerplans