The Lower Health Care Costs Act

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Table of Contents

Legislation Comparison Grid Template
Legislation Testimony/Advocacy Statement
References

Legislation Comparison Grid Template

Health-related Bill Name	A bill to lower healthcare costs or Lower Health Care Costs Act.
Bill Number	S.1895.
Description	It is not a surprise that numerous Americans face some challenges regarding healthcare coverage, costs, and services. That is why the proposed bill attempts to improve the situation by addressing the issues above from a legislative perspective. The given piece of legislation offers a few essential steps that should provide more citizens with better access to medical services, which, in turn, will improve population health. As has already been mentioned, the given bill focuses on many essential topics. Firstly, Congress.gov (2019) explains that the proposed legislation prevents healthcare practitioners and facilities from billing above the stipulated rate for emergency and some related nonemergency services. Secondly, the bill draws attention that healthcare facilities and practitioners are required to provide patients with a list of offered services upon discharge and bill for them within a 45-day period (Congress.gov, 2019). Thirdly, this piece of legislation develops grant programs to increase vaccination rates in the United States (Congress.gov, 2019). The bill also advocates for the use of mobile applications to distribute healthcare cost information, limits prices for prescription drugs, and lessens requirements to approve generics and biosimilars. Finally, it raises the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21.
Federal or State?	Federal.
Legislative Intent	The bill’s legislative intent is not ambiguous because its language clearly represents its principal goal to increase the health of the American population and make a healthcare industry transparent. Furthermore, the bill does not include any equivocal concepts or suggestions. Since it is impossible to interpret the piece of legislation under consideration in more than one fashion, it is not necessary to invest much effort to analyze the bill’s legislative intent.
Proponents/ Opponents	Proponents: The bill is sponsored by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander and co-sponsored by Senator Patty Murray (Democratic) and Senator Joni Ernst (Republican).
Proponents/ Opponents	Opponents: It is challenging to state that a specific political group or party will be against the proposed legislation. However, one can suppose that increasing vaccination rates will witness a portion of opposition because an anti-vaccination movement is robust now. Furthermore, the bill is opposed because it states that biological medicines should not face quality standards.
Target Population	The whole American nation is the target population of the bill. It is so because the proposed legislation does not focus on a specific group of people based on their ethnicity, gender, age, area of residence, and others.
Status of the bill (Is it in hearings or committees? Is it receiving press coverage?)	The bill was proposed in 2019, and currently, it is in the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Congress.gov, 2019). It is impossible to mention that the bill is receiving broad press coverage because the most popular newspaper and magazines do not tend to address it. However, this topic is widespread in the specialized press, including the resources by the American Hospital Association, Association of American Medical Colleges, and others. At the same time, Public Citizen (2019), a nonprofit organization, also addresses the bill and explains why it is criticized.
General Notes/Comments	Even though the bill aims at improving public health, it implies some negative features. That is why it is necessary to explain the details of this legislation to have it passed.

Legislation Testimony/Advocacy Statement

Modern people are exposed to the impact of various factors that deteriorate individual health. In addition to that, healthcare costs are a significant barrier for US citizens to access medical services. It is so because people refrain from going to the hospital because they are afraid of getting surprise medical bills. That is why it is necessary to pass the S.1895 Lower Health Care Costs Act to make the population healthier and contribute to more accessible medicine.

The proposed legislation addresses the challenges above because it attempts to make the healthcare industry more transparent. It is useful for individuals when they are given a list of provided services and 45 days to pay for them. This fact eliminates any concerns that medical establishments or practitioners can charge more than they have provided. However, the bill also witnesses a portion of criticism because of two aspects. Firstly, the proposed legislation is opposed because it insists on the necessity to support vaccination. Secondly, the bill is criticized because it mentions that biological medicines do not need to meet quality standards.

The information above stipulates that it is reasonable to address this criticism to make the bill passed. On the one hand, it is rational to use statistics to demonstrate the benefits of vaccination. For example, UNICEF (2019) stipulates that the number of deaths from measles “declined by 80 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2017” (para. 1). This information is a valid argument to show that increased vaccination rates will make the US population healthier. On the other hand, the claim concerning the quality standards of biological medicines seems justified. It is so because when they are not subject to these standards, the population’s health is endangered. Thus, to have the bill passed, it is reasonable to amend it by excluding the information about the fact that biological medicines should not be subject to quality standards.

References

Congress.gov. (2019). S.1895 – Lower Health Care Costs Act. Web.

Public Citizen. (2019). Letter to Congress opposing Section 2017 of S.1895, the Lower Health Care Costs Act. Web.

UNICEF. (2019). Immunization. Web.

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The Lower Health Care Costs Act

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