Weekend Longforms: No Surprises Act arbitration, autism treatment, fishing, and a court-ordered C-section

March 21, 2026

Happy Spring!

Some weekend longforms for health policy wonks

A. Behind the companies driving high costs of No Surprises Act arbitration

Tara Bannow of StatNews reports on the founders of HaloMD, who are making a fortune submitting to arbitration a torrent of physician bills that are subject to limits on payment and balance billing by the No Surprises Act. This article requires a subscription - StatNews can be habit forming. Here’s a commentary (not paywalled) by James Gelfand, the CEO of the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) titled Congress must fix the No Surprises Act before it bankrupts patients and employers

B. Autism treatment companies overcharging payers

Christopher Weaver, Tom McGinty, and Anna Wild Mathews wrote “The Boom in Autism Therapy Is Medicaid’s Fastest-Growing Jackpot” in the Wall Street Journal last week. The same pattern of overcharging may also be inflating costs for employer-sponsored health plans.

C. Go fishing!

Bloomberg’s Andrew Dickson reports in ”The Doctor Will Send You Fishing Now” on physicians in other countries prescribing social activities to address mental health needs.

D. Cesarean Sections by court order

Propublica’s Amy Yurkanin reports on laws in Florida and elsewhere that allow courts to intervene in the care of a pregnant woman if clinicians feel that the unborn baby is at risk in “They Didn’t Want to Have C-Sections. A Judge Would Decide How They Gave Birth.” A follow-up published on Friday describes the court hearing including video.

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Views expressed in Employer Coverage are purely my own.

Today’s Animal Photo:

Baby ducklings on the water in Portland, ME last May