Source: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
The U.S. Senate Health Committee recently approved a package of bills aimed at lowering the cost of medical care, from ending surprise medical bills to curbing prescription drug price surges, with a rare bipartisan vote that could vault it toward final passage (Source: “With Rare Comity, Senate Panel Advances Bills to Lower Health Costs,” New York Times, June 26, 2019).
The cost-cutting legislation is a priority of Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), the health committee chair who will retire next year and is seeking a victory after his bipartisan plan to stabilize the Affordable Care Act insurance markets failed last year.
The new package includes a plan to eliminate surprise medical bills, which have become a hot political cause this year, targeted by President Trump and lawmakers from both parties. It also addresses the rising cost of prescription drugs, with a set of provisions that limit pharmaceutical companies’ ability to protect monopolies on the drugs they sell.
Other proposals seek to chip away at the murkiness around medical prices, a goal that President Trump also seized on with a new executive order intended to require insurers, physicians, and hospitals to inform patients how much their care will cost before they receive it. The package also includes a measure from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) to raise the smoking age in every state to 21 from 18.