White House Targets Costly Health ‘Facility Fees,’ Short-Term Insurance
News outlets report on new efforts from the Biden administration to lower health care costs, this time by tackling surprising billing items like expensive hospital "facility fees," and also to limit short-term health insurance plans, which the president likened to a "scam."
Stat:
Biden Targets Hefty Hospital 'Facility Fees' That Often Surprise Patients
As part of the Biden administration’s broader efforts to lower health care costs, the White House announced new guidelines on Friday targeting a few of the most common sources of sticker shock. The new policy initiatives target some of the usual suspects: surprise billing, which was restricted in 2020 yet persists as health care providers exploit loopholes; short-term insurance policies that often fail to cover essential treatment; and high-interest credit cards and payment plans especially marketed to help patients cover medical debt. (Merelli, 7/7)
Reuters:
Biden's Junk Fee Crusade Turns To Short-Term Health Insurance Plans
"It's not necessarily about healthcare, it’s about being played for a sucker," Biden said at a White House event announcing the policies. "That's a scam and it has to end." The Obama administration in 2016 limited short-term insurance plans to three months to try to get more people on year-round plans, but regulations adopted by the Trump administration in 2018 allowed people to stay on such plans for 12 months and renew them for three years. (Bose, 7/7)
AP:
Biden Takes Aim At 'Junk' Insurance, Vowing To Save Money For Consumers Being Played As 'Suckers'
Biden invited Cory Dowd to tell his story at the White House event to spotlight the initiative. Dowd in 2019 purchased a high-deductible health care plan when he returned stateside after serving in the Peace Corps in Ghana but before he started graduate school and was able to get on a student health plan. He thought the plan would protect him in the case of a medical emergency. But just weeks before he started school, he had to have emergency surgery to remove his appendix. Months later, the hospital called him to tell him his insurer would only cover a small portion of his bill and that he would have to pay more than $37,000 out of pocket. (Boak, 7/7)
Medical credit cards are investigated —
Modern Healthcare:
Medical Credit Cards Under Scrutiny By HHS, CFPB
The Health and Human Services Department, Treasury Department and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched a joint inquiry Friday into these financial products, requesting information on how they work, the risks they pose and the impact they have on billing services, according to a news release. The agencies opened a 60-day public comment period to gain feedback from consumers, lenders and providers. (Hudson, 7/7)
KFF Health News:
What You Need To Know About The Drug Price Fight In Those TV Ads
In recent months ominous ads about prescription drugs have flooded the TV airwaves. Perhaps by design, it’s not always clear who’s sponsoring the ads or why. Or, for that matter, why now? The short answer is that Congress is paying attention. House and Senate members from both parties have launched at least nine bills, parts of which may be packaged together this fall, that take aim at pharmacy benefit managers, companies that channel prescription drugs to patients. Here’s a primer to help you decipher what’s happening. (Allen, 7/10)
In other administration news —
CBS News:
Billions In NIH Grants Could Be Jeopardized By Appointments Snafu, Republicans Say
The Biden administration allegedly failed to correctly reappoint more than a dozen top-ranking National Institutes of Health leaders, House Republicans say, raising questions about the legality of billions in federal grants doled out by those officials over the last year. Their claim, detailed Friday in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, obtained by CBS News, follows a monthslong probe led by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the Republican chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, into vacancies at the agency. (Herridge and Tin, 7/9)
Stat:
Biden’s NIH Nominee Is Languishing In Congress
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ rare move to delay President Biden’s health care nominees has put the drug pricing firebrand and the White House in a standoff — and public health advocates worry the feud could squeeze out an otherwise uncontroversial pick to lead the country’s top science agency. (Owermohle, 7/10)
Stat:
ACA's Risk Program Benefits Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurers
A program that undergirds the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces continues to bolster the balance sheets of large Blue Cross Blue Shield companies, according to a STAT analysis of new federal data. Conversely, that same program — called “risk adjustment” — has created substantial financial burdens for startup insurers including Bright Health Group, which has now exited all health insurance markets, and Friday Health Plans, which has shut down. (Herman, 7/10)
USA Today:
Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling Detrimental To Latinos' Health
A study found Latinos are still underrepresented among certain health care professions and obstacles to advanced education may be to blame. The study, published Wednesday in Health Affairs, comes a week after the recent Supreme Court decision to strike down affirmative action policies that helped diversify medical schools across the country for decades. (Rodriguez, 7/7)
