Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., on Thursday released the details of a plan they hope will help bring down health costs and, among other things, eliminate surprise medical bills for patients. Alexander is chair and Murray is the ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Alexander told NPR he hopes to get it on the Senate floor in July. It targets nearly every area of the health care industry for reform, including surprise medical bills, prescription drugs, price transparency, public health and health information, NPR reports. (
NPR
)
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Brokers would have to reveal the fees and other enticements they’ve received from the insurance industry under the Alexander/Murray bill. Brokers are supposed to independently help employers select benefits for their workers. But a ProPublica investigation earlier this year found the insurance industry often uses undisclosed money and gifts to influence the brokers, including hefty commissions, six-figure bonuses and exotic vacations. Critics call the compensation a “classic conflict of interest” that drives up costs, according to ProPublica. (
ProPublica
;
ProPublica investigation
)
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Innovation & Transformation
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Children and young adults under the age of 23 were disproportionately represented in the increase in private insurance claim lines with mental health diagnoses from 2007 to 2017, according to a new white paper from the nonprofit FAIR Health. Overall, mental health accounts for a growing number of private insurance claims. The findings
may
reflect increased access to treatment, but experts warn that it’s exceptionally difficult to tease out which factors are involved. (
STAT News
;
FAIR Health paper
)
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A different pet-poop issue:
Pets may boost the risk for irritable bowel syndrome, according to a meta-analysis presented at Digestive Disease Week. The finding revealed no answers about why this was the case, or which animals were complicit. Also, it was not clear if certain kinds of pets posed a higher risk, co-author and cat owner Laith Al Momani, MD, told
MedPage Today
. “The cat is safe—for now.” (
MedPage Today
)
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ERISA hates surprises:
Among those testifying against surprise billing: The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC). “Surprise billing undermines the value-driven and coordinated care programs advanced by large employers, and fundamentally frustrates the goals of providing quality, affordable employer-sponsored health benefits,” ERIC SVP James Gelfand told the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee
.
(
ERIC announcement
)
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More screening:
Post-ACA, screening for colorectal cancer and breast cancer increased in low-income adults 50 to 64 years of age in states that expanded Medicaid coverage. (
MedPage Today
)
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MarketVoices...quotes worth reading
"When you have a chairman and a ranking member that have worked together on a bipartisan package in the committee of jurisdiction, it always gives more weight to the product,"—Dean Rosen a former Republican senior health adviser and a partner at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, talking to
NPR
about the Alexander/Murray health care legislation.
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Sandy Mau and Roxanna Guilford-Blake
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