Progress on PATIENT CHOICE Bills

 For the first time in nearly six years, health reform legislation that’s friendly to patient choice, transparency, and market competition has passed the House of Representatives.

It was nearly six years ago when late Sen. John McCain tragically gave a thumbs down to continuing the process of advancing patient-centered health reform legislation when he shut down the Repeal and Replace effort.

Nancy Pelosi controlled the gavel for four years, but now that Speaker Kevin McCarthy is in charge, he and dozens of other House leaders are seizing the health reform agenda once again with fresh ideas and a new approach.

Two measures are teed up, appropriately acronymed PATIENT and CHOICE.

On June 21, the House of Representatives passed the CHOICE Arrangement Act  (stands for Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense arrangements). The bill was jointly drafted by the Ways & Means and the Education and the Workforce committees to expand more affordable and flexible health coverage options, including codifying and expanding Association Health Plans and Health Reimbursement Arrangements.  It passed 220-209.

Next up: The PATIENT Act (Promoting Access to Treatments and Increasing Extremely Needed Transparency Act) to tackle health care costs by increasing transparency and competition. After numerous hearings, the bill passed through the Energy and Commerce Committee 49-0, and a House floor vote is expected in July.  Here is a section-by-section summary.

One reason for this progress is that the legislative process is going through “regular order” for the first time in years.

That means that a Member proposes a legislative idea, hearings are held, and the relevant subcommittee considers and reports the bill to the full committee. The full committee then debates the measure and, if approved, it goes to the Floor for a vote, after passing through the Rules Committee which decides the process for offering amendments.

This is what’s happening now, straight out of Civics 101.

Strong-Arm Nancy Pelosi didn’t do it this way. Legislation emitted from the Speaker’s office, and Members were expected to fall in line.

Debate in this session of Congress is more raucous, granted, but it also is much more engaged and productive.  The new strategy seems to be paying off.

The three major committees with jurisdiction over health policy issues have produced a dizzying number of smaller bills, many with bi-partisan support, that are combined into these larger bills to advance choice and competition in the health care space. How refreshing it is!

That said, health care clearly has moved off center stage, but that ironically presents an opportunity to get more done. We’re not talking about a big Repeal and Replace effort—which never would pass in the Senate and probably not the House at this point—but rather a series of important improvements that, together, can lead to meaningful change.

How much of the legislation will get through the Democrat-controlled Senate? Hard to know, but the House is engaged in the health care space to tee up bills that will make positive changes when/if the political forces are favorably aligned.

So just to give you a sense of the action taking place and bills that are being moved forward, here is a bit more detail:

The Ways and Means and Education and the Workforce committees worked together to send four important health reform measures to the floor for passage.

The CHOICE Act recognizes the difficulties small businesses have in providing health coverage to their workers and gives new options to businesses in vulnerable small group markets. The bill includes the Self-Insurance Protection Act and would codify access to more, and more affordable, insurance coverage options through Association Health Plans. 

It also would codify and improve the Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements that would allow employers to give employees more options of selecting health coverage outside the workplace with tax-preferred dollars.

Energy and Commerce Committee: The PATIENT Act that is expected to hit the House floor after Congress returns from recess incorporates 15 separate sections focusing primarily on lowering health costs, including:

• Requiring hospitals, health insurers, and clinical diagnostic laboratories to make accessible price information available to patents and consumers
  
  
• Addressing ownership arrangements in the health sector that are creating monopolies across the nation that eliminate competition and increase costs
  
  
• Lowering drug costs by protecting patients from complex and hidden pricing practices.
  
  

But they aren’t done yet.  Hearings continue, such as the recent Health Subcommittee of Education and the Workforce hearing on “Competition and Transparency: The Pathway Forward for a Stronger Health Care Market.”

“One of the greatest challenges the health care market faces is rapid consolidation, which obscures the prices and quality of services. Thanks to Federal Government overreach, Americans are missing new opportunities to increase innovation, raise the quality of care, and access affordable drug prices,” said Chairman Bob Good, R-VA. “Patients and consumers should have all the information necessary for them to make the best health care choice possible.”

So the drought has ended.  Conservatives are engaged and focused on health reform—building on the strong platforms already in law and expanding options for patients and employers.  Hopefully the Senate will see merit in these initiatives and follow suit.

Grace-Marie Turner heads the Galen Institute which has been working for more than 25 years to promote policies that put doctors and patients in charge of health care decisions.

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2023/06/29/progress_on_patient_choice_bills_944698.html