New Health Care Legislation Introduced in Senate

Last week, Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Washington) from the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released draft legislation, the “Lower Health Care Costs Act of 2019,” aimed at reducing health care costs.

The legislation includes five sections that would address surprise medical billing, reducing the prices of prescription drugs, creating more transparency, boosting public health and improving the exchange of health IT. Notably, the transparency section includes a provision (Sec. 308) that would require disclosure of direct and indirect compensation for brokers and consultants to employer-sponsored health plans and enrollees in plans in the individual market. Currently, this information must be disclosed in Form 5500 for group health plans with over 100 participants.

Visit the Senate website for more information, including the legislation by section, one-page summaries of each section and the actual draft legislation. The Senate Health Committee plans to mark up this legislation by the end of June and the Big “I” will be working with the committee as it finalizes the draft language.

Wyatt Stewart is Big “I” senior director of federal government affairs.