House Votes 320-71 for Health Transparency Bill

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted 320-71 Monday to pass H.R. 5378, the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act bill.

Much of the bill relates to group health coverage, but a hospital transparency provision could help clients with Medicare coverage, by requiring hospitals that care for Medicare patients to post standard charges online.

Other provisions would require large and midsize Medicare Advantage plan issuers to send federal regulators reports on their ownership, relationships with suppliers of health care services and goods, and the flow of cash between the Medicare plans and the goods and services suppliers.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., who introduced the bill, is the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That committee voted last week to approve 19 other bills related to health care and health coverage on a bipartisan basis. Just one of the bills that received a no vote.

What it means: Health care and health insurance continue to be opportunities for bipartisanship in the House.

Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress strongly oppose patient confusion about health care prices and about how their health coverage will work.

Medicare bills: Last week, ThinkAdvisor published a list of 10 House Energy bills that seem especially likely to influence Medicare and clients with Medicare coverage.