Pallone Floor Remarks in Support of the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act
Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks on the House floor in support of H.R. 5378, the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5378, the “Lower Costs, More Transparency Act.”
This bipartisan bill does exactly what it says it does—it delivers lower health care costs for the American people and brings much-needed transparency to our nation’s health care system.
Access to affordable health care remains a major challenge for many American families. More than 40 percent of adults say they have either delayed or forgone medical care because of high costs. And prices for health care services also vary widely. Consumers often have difficulty obtaining price information to begin with. Another problem is that the information can be misleading or inaccurate – making it difficult for consumers to compare prices across health care providers before receiving care. And too many patients are forced to wait until after they receive care and receive their medical bill to see what they actually owe.
H.R. 5378 brings some much-needed transparency to the health care system by codifying and strengthening important price transparency protections. It is a victory for everyone who has ever struggled to navigate and understand the cost of a health care procedure or a prescription drug at the pharmacy counter. These measures will empower consumers and employers with data on the prices hospitals charge and the rates insurers pay so that they can compare prices and save money.
It also increases transparency of how pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs affect drug prices at the pharmacy counter. This will also help increase competition and lower health care costs for Americans. We have added new language in the bill to enhance the privacy protections for consumers’ health information and to ensure that the full protection of the HIPAA Privacy Rule is applicable.
The bill also reduces costs for patients by ensuring Medicare beneficiaries are not paying more for the exact same drug because it was administered in a hospital outpatient department instead of a physician’s office. It will also build on Democrats’ work to rein in the soaring cost of prescription drugs by requiring the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide more information to generic drug manufacturers during the development process. This will help speed up the path to market and increase competition sooner to lower drug prices faster. All of these provisions in this bill will help make health care and prescription drugs more affordable for the American people.
H.R. 5378 will also make health care more accessible to American families thanks to critical investments in our nation’s public health programs that serve low-income and uninsured patients. The bill includes increased funding for Community Health Centers at $4.4 billion per year, an unprecedented 10 percent increase over current funding levels. Community Health Centers are a critical source of primary health care for more than 30 million patients – one in every 11 Americans. These Centers deliver high-quality, affordable health care to some of our most vulnerable communities and this increased funding will allow these Centers to continue providing this critical care.
The bill also increases funding for the National Health Service Corps, which places doctors in high-need communities. It also includes an unprecedented seven years of funding, more than double the funding under current law, for the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program to support the training of primary care physicians in community-based settings. This program helps address doctor shortages in underserved areas as graduates of the program are likely to practice close to their training sites and to care for underserved patients. This long-term funding will help bring more certainty to the program to ensure that teaching health centers can plan and recruit for their residency programs.
The bill also reauthorizes and increases funding for both the Special Diabetes Program and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians. These programs provide critical investments in diabetes research and care.
Finally, H.R. 5378 eliminates looming cuts to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospitals to support these high-need hospitals that provide care for large numbers of Medicaid and uninsured patients.
The increased funding for each of these public health and workforce programs is essential to ensuring access to care for our constituents across the country. All of this funding is fully offset with policies that will further strengthen our health care system and help reduce costs for American families.
Mr. Speaker, when a version of this bill came before the Energy and Commerce Committee it passed with unanimous, bipartisan support. Chair Rodgers and I have been working on this bill all year, and I commend her for her ongoing commitment to get it across the finish line. It’s an important bill that delivers meaningful results.
I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 5378 to lower health care costs for the American people and to make health care more accessible.
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