The House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed four bipartisan bills on Wednesday to address the problem of transparency in healthcare pricing and lower costs.
“Dishonest billing, opaque rules, and shady industry practices have left patients paying higher costs for health care. Today’s passage of our bipartisan health care package makes great strides towards giving clarity to patients and building a health care system that is more transparent, affordable, and accessible,” Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said.
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The bills target aspects of medical billing that were not clearly addressed in the No Surprises Act of 2021, which was intended to provide a solution to the problem of unexpected bills from out-of-network healthcare providers.
In her opening statement at Wednesday’s markup of the legislation, Foxx said that the new bills are not about “taking a chisel to the law; [they are about] using a fine brush to remove the excess dust and reveal the work underneath.”
The Hidden Fee Disclosure Act, HR 4508 , requires that providers give patients transparent cost data from price comparisons before providing treatment. The text of the bill explicitly addresses the role of pharmacy benefits managers, which play an integral role in the cost of prescription drugs.
The Healthcare DATA Act, HR 4527 , complements HR 4508 by requiring healthcare practitioners to provide accurate data to insurance companies to share with consumers.
The Transparency in Coverage Act, HR 4507 , codifies an existing Trump-era rule requiring health insurance plans to share with the public negotiated rates and cost-sharing estimates. Foxx said the rule has been a bipartisan “resounding success” that has already saved millions in healthcare costs, strengthening the need to put it into law.
“The American people deserve to know the full picture of the prices they are asked to pay,” said ranking member Bobby Scott (D-VA).
Written by both Foxx and Scott, the Transparency in Billing Act, HR 4509 , ensures that hospitals provide detailed accounting for their charges and prevents the addition of facility fees unnecessarily.
Last week, President Joe Biden introduced a sweep ” Bidenomics ” plan to lower healthcare costs, at which time the administration issued new guidance requiring insurance companies to better distinguish between in-network and out-of-network providers.
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Thanking his colleagues from both parties for their work on Wednesday’s legislation, Scott said the bipartisan efforts to mitigate the problems of rising healthcare costs could be a source of continued progress on other healthcare-related issues moving forward.
“I am hopeful that our bipartisan work continues after today’s mark-up to make our healthcare system work for patients and families,” Scott said.