To lower the price of health care for the 14 million Texans covered by employer-sponsored health insurance, Texas Employers for Affordable Health Care (TXEAHC) is advocating for several key policy changes in the 89th Legislative Session to drive price and quality transparency and honest billing.
TXEAHC was established by purchasers to bring the employers’ voice on health care to the capitol with a goal of passing legislation to address excessive consolidation, anti-competitive contracts, and conduct affecting health care provider networks that increase the prices paid by employers and working families.
“High health care prices make health care unaffordable for many Texans and force them to make difficult choices about their care such as skipping appointments and not filling prescriptions or risk going into medical debt,” said Chris Skisak, PhD, executive director for TXEAHC. “We are working to enact practical policy solutions to reduce health care prices while maintaining quality of and access to care.”
The key legislative priorities that TXEAHC is working to advance:
- Fund the Texas All-Payer Claims Database – Approve UTHealth Houston’s $10 million budget request to fully establish and maintain the database and public access portal, allowing the Center for Health Care Data to conduct the research necessary to produce required reports on health care pricing, resource use, and quality information for policy makers, purchasers, and consumers. A fully-funded APCD would also allow other qualified researchers to conduct research that could improve the cost, quality, and delivery of health care in Texas.
Establish the Health Impact, Cost, and Coverage Advisory Committee which would use the APCD to develop detailed cost/benefit analyses of legislation that would regulate health insurance plans and assess insurers for this impact, helping to fund the APCD (HB 138, Dean and SB 818, Bettencourt).
- Require honest billing – Require health care bills to indicate the specific facility where services were delivered and prohibit charging facility fees for telehealth or preventative care (HB 2556, Frank and SB 1232, Hancock).
- Promote competition – Require all entities in the health care industry – including providers, facilities, insurers, and pharmacies – to have transparent ownership (SB 1595, Hancock and HB 4408, Dean). Additionally, give the Attorney General the information necessary to enforce the law and prevent anti-competitive behavior (HB 2747, Frank).
- Encourage smart shopping – Allow employers to inform employees about provider quality and incentivize high value care (HB 1959, Frank and SB 926, Hancock). Provide meaningful price estimates so patients don’t get surprise bills (HB 251, Harris-Davila and SB 1219, Hughes). Allow pharmacists to inform patients about opportunities to save money on prescription drugs (SB 493, Kolkhorst).
“Health care prices have been out of control for too long,” said Skisak. “Texas lawmakers have shown a real commitment to protecting Texans by restoring transparency and competition to health care markets, and we look forward to helping them continue this important work during this year’s Legislature.”