06.19.2019 / Press Release

Statement: Senate Leaders Put People before Politics with Bipartisan Effort to Address Surprise Medical Bills and other Health Priorities

Washington, D.C. – Families USA released the following statement regarding the bipartisan health legislation introduced today by Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray.

Families USA strongly supports the bipartisan package aimed at lowering health care costs and improving health care quality introduced by Sens. Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray. Families across the nation are suffering from rising health care costs and poor quality care, and the time for action is now. We are pleased that the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is moving quickly to mark-up this legislation, which is a meaningful step toward addressing these problems. Frederick Isasi, Families USA Executive Director, testified about this issue during the committee’s hearing on the Lower Health Care Costs Act.

In particular, Families USA applauds the surprise medical bills provisions in the legislation, which include strong consumer protections and a reimbursement methodology that will help to ensure reasonable costs for related services. We also are supportive of several other provisions within the legislation including the development of a national database to analyze health care quality and costs and improved transparency. These provisions align with Families USA’s goal of reducing health care costs and improving health care quality for adults, children, adults and seniors and its new initiative, Consumers First, which was launched in May. We also are pleased with provisions that will support efforts to reduce escalating maternal mortality rates, improve health equity, and other public health priorities.

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