"The year-end government funding package ... is not expected to include bipartisan legislation protecting patients who receive surprise medical bills sent by out-of-network specialists at in-network facilities -- a practice that, if amended, could reduce health spending for people with private insurance by up to $40 billion annually ... If in-network payments for [anesthesiologists, pathologists, radiologists and assistant surgeons] were reduced to 164 percent of Medicare rates -- equivalent to orthopedic surgeons -- total spending for people with insurance through their employer could fall by 3.4 percent."  MORE >>