The No Surprises Act was passed by Congress in December 2020 to protect people from surprise medical bills. The initial rules went into effect on January 1, 2022. The No Surprises Act is meant to help people understand what their medical care will cost them. There are three (3) parts to the No Surprises Act. Part I - Protects people who are covered by health insurance and receive emergency and non-emergency services from an “Out of Network” (OON) health care provider at an “In Network” clinic or facility. An OON provider is no longer allowed to charge you (called “balance billing”) for the “Out of Network” fees that your health insurance won’t cover. Part II - If you do NOT have health insurance (you are uninsured) or you DO have health insurance, but you DO NOT want to use it (you plan to self-pay) Part II requires ALL health care providers, including Rootwell Counseling Collective, to give you a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) of the expected cost of your care. This includes non-emergency procedures, services, and items such as medical visits or therapy appointments, prescription medications, equipment, and hospital fees. It establishes time frames for providing people a GFE. It provides a process for people to dispute a bill that is $400 or more over the GFE. Part III - Sets new rules for group health plans about prescription medications. Group health plans and insurance companies MUST provide information to people about the cost of prescription medications.