Lawmakers left hospital, insurer contract guardrails out of year-end proposal
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Lawmakers decided to eliminate provisions from an end-of-year proposal that would have prohibited anticompetitive healthcare contracting practices.
Congress' end-of-year spending legislation is still in flux, but eight lawmakers that lead key committees didn't ask to curb gag clauses or various types of clauses that would make it difficult for plans to steer consumers to lower-cost or higher-quality providers.
The practices targeted in a prior bipartisan healthcare reform package titled the Lower Health Care Costs Act are widespread, but have gained renewed attention since California Attorney General Xavier Becerra was chosen as President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for HHS secretary. Becerra sued Sutter Health for anticompetitive practices similar to those the legislation was designed to stop.