March 21, 2019
Our Government Affairs team is monitoring bills and action items that would affect the insurance industry. Here’s what we’re focusing on as of late:
- The “Short on Competition Act,” a bipartisan effort spearheaded by Judiciary Chairman Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), ranking member Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), is a drug re-importation bill that would allow drugs to be imported from other countries in the event that the price of an older medicine radically increases (think: the 5,000 percent increase of Daraprim or the 500 percent increase of the allergy drug, EpiPen).
- H.R. 1425, a reinsurance bill introduced by Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN) and Scott Peters (D-CA), would provide $10 billion annually to states to establish a reinsurance program or provide financial assistance to reduce out-of-pocket costs for those enrolled in qualified health plans.
- Surprise billing legislation, proposed by an employer coalition (of which The Council is a part) is urging Congress to take action to protect patients from surprise medical bills and manage health costs. We expect prioritizing the issue to receive bipartisan support in the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the coming weeks, though a bipartisan solution has yet to be determined. Find the letter here.