When the No Surprises Act took effect in 2022, it was a rare feat of bipartisan problem-solving. The law was meant to prevent a once all-too-common scenario: An insured patient would seek emergency care, only to face financial disaster because one of the providers involved was outside the patient’s insurance network.

Imagine, for example, being rushed to the hospital with a broken ankle that requires emergency surgery, only to later receive a $12,000 bill because one of the many providers involved in your care was outside your insurance network. Before the No Surprises Act, that happened all the time, even to people with generous coverage. (In fact, this happened to my editor.)

The law took that problem out of patients’ hands, requiring insurers and out-of-network doctors to settle on a fair payment. That protection has spared millions of Americans from unexpected medical costs.

But consumers might eventually discover that they’re paying the bill in other ways. The process for settling disputes between insurers and providers has tilted heavily toward providers, leading to unusually high prices for care that could drive up costs throughout the healthcare system. Unless policymakers correct that imbalance, an otherwise good law could end up raising costs for everyone.

The risk stems from the law’s method for resolving disputes. The No Surprises Act laid out a system for settling a tab: If an out-of-network provider says an insurance company isn’t offering a fair payment for a service, the two sides go into arbitration. The insurance company and provider each name what they consider to be a fair........

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