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As Insurance Termination Notices Pile Up, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton to Introduce 'Keep Your Health Plan Act'

"The bill would allow health care plans available today on the individual market to continue to be offered so Americans have the option to keep what they have if they like it. The bill also ensures that Americans maintaining their health care plan would not face a penalty under Obamacare."

House Energy and Commerce Committee Hearing: No More Surprises -- Protecting Patients from Surprise Medical Bills

Page includes Memorandum from Chairman Pallone to the Subcommittee on Health, opening statement from Chairman Pallone, and opening statement of Subcommittee Chair Eshoo, along with testimony from: [1] Sonji Wilkes, Patient Advocate; [2] Sherif Zaafran, MD, FASA, Physicians for Fair Coverage; [3] Rick Sherlock, Association of Air Medical Services; [4] James Gelfand, The ERISA Industry Committee; [5] Thomas Nickels, American Hospital Association; [6] Jeanette Thornton, America's Health Insurance Plans; [7] Claire McAndrew, Families USA; and [8] Vidor E. Friedman, MD, FACEP, American College of Emergency Physicians.

House Health Subcommittee Hearing: An Examination of How Reining in PBMs Will Drive Competition and Lower Costs for Patients

Video of hearing held Wednesday Feb. 26, 2025. Testimony of witnesses: [1] Mr. Hugh Chancy, RPh, Pharmacist and Owner, Chancy Drugs; [2] Mr. Shawn Gremminger, MPH, National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions; [3] Mr. Anthony Wright, Families USA; and [4] Dr. Matthew Fiedler, PhD, Center on Health Policy, Brookings Institution.

House Subcommittee Hearing: Health Care Spending in the United States Is Unsustainable for Patients, Employers, and Taxpayers

January 31, 2024. Video of hearing, with links to Chair Rodgers Opening Statement and Chair Guthrie Opening Statement and testimony by [1] Chapin White, Ph.D., Director of Health Analysis, Congressional Budget Office; [2] Sophia Tripoli, MPH, Families USA; [3] Mr. Kevin Lyons, New Jersey State Policemen"s Benevolent Association, Inc.; [4] Benedic Ippolito, Ph.D., M.S., American Enterprise Institute; and [5] Katie Martin, MPA, Health Care Cost Institute.

Statements and Testimony from House Subcommittee Hearing: 'Protecting America's Sick and Chronically Ill'

This hearing examined issued with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) and ways to help individuals with pre-existing conditions obtain health coverage. At the linked page are transcripts of the subcommittee chairman's opening statement and witness testimonies.

House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees

From the Background Memo: "Historically, an employer with 50 or fewer employees was considered a 'small employer' and could purchase health insurance coverage in the small-group market. The [ACA] revised this historical threshold upward, redefining a small employer as those employers with 100 or fewer employees. Now, States must implement the expanded definition for plan years beginning in 2016. H.R. 1624, Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act of 2015, would amend the Public Health Service Act to redefine small employer as one with 50 or fewer employees and give States the option to expand the definition to include employers with up to 100 employees.... [An actuarial] analysis estimated that the effect of expanding the definition of small employer to 51 to 100 employees would result in roughly two-thirds (64%) of members in groups with 51-100 employees receiving a premium increase in 2016, with these groups receiving an 18% increase on average."

House Health Subcommittee Hearing Reviews Complex Drug Supply Chain

"Hearing from 10 witnesses, [the Subcommittee on Health] dug into the manufacturing of, wholesale and distribution of, and payment for drugs, and how each of these stages impacts the cost of medications."

Hearing on 'PPACA's Effects on Maintaining Health Coverage and Jobs: A Review of the Health Care Law's Regulatory Burden'

The June 2 Hearing page includes links to testimonies, a Background Memo, and the Opening Statement of Subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts.

House Votes to Protect Employees from Rising Health Care Costs, Cancelled Plans

"The House of Representatives [on Sept. 28] approved H.R. 1624, the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act, authored by Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Vice Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY). This bipartisan, commonsense legislation will help protect employees from cancelled health plans and rising health care premiums."

CBO Testimony: Options for Controlling the Cost and Increasing the Efficiency of Health Care (PDF)

18 pages. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Health, Committee on Energy and Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives, March 10, 2009. Excerpt: Policymakers could seek to improve efficiency by changing the ways that public programs pay for health care services or by encouraging such changes in private health plans; in both sectors, those changes could in turn exert a strong influence on the delivery of care.