In
a
letter
to
lawmakers
on
Monday,
employer
advocacy
groups
applauded
the
introduction
of
the
Healthy
Competition
for
Better
Care
Act,
a
bill
that
aims
to
increase
competition
in
healthcare.
The
letter
was
signed
by
the
American
Benefits
Council,
the
ERISA
Industry
Committee,
the
National
Alliance
of
Healthcare
Purchaser
Coalitions,
the
Purchaser
Business
Group
on
Health,
the
Silicon
Valley
Employers
Forum
and
the
Small
Business
Majority.
The
bill
was
introduced
in
the
Senate
last
week
by
Jon
Husted
(R-Ohio).
Reps.
Jodey
Arrington
(R-Texas),
Rick
Allen
(R-Georgia),
Donald
Davis
(D-North
Carolina)
and
Chuck
Edwards
(R-North
Carolina)
previously
introduced
a
companion
bill
in
the
House.
Specifically,
the
Healthy
Competition
for
Better
Care
Act
aims
to
improve
competition
in
healthcare
by
banning
several
types
of
anticompetitive
contracts
between
insurers
and
healthcare
providers.
It
would
prohibit
all-or-nothing
clauses
that
force
insurers
to
include
every
provider
in
their
network,
anti-steering
and
anti-tiering
clauses
that
limit
employers’
ability
to
direct
patients
to
lower-cost
or
higher-quality
providers,
most-favored-nation
clauses
that
require
insurers
to
receive
the
lowest
price
and
can
drive
prices
up
overall
and
gag
clauses
that
restrict
sharing
cost
information.
“The
cost
of
health
care
has
outpaced
inflation
for
more
than
two
decades.
That
is
a
staggering
fact
that
Americans
feel.
My
bill
creates
incentives
for
real
competition
in
health
care
to
drive
down
costs
for
patients,”
Husted
said
in
a
statement.
In
the
letter,
which
was
addressed
to
the
lawmakers
who
introduced
the
bills,
the
employer
groups
stated
that
employers
have
been
concerned
about
the
rapid
consolidation
of
health
systems
for
some
time.
“Across
the
country,
provider
systems
are
using
their
dominant
positions
to
impose
restrictive
and
often
unfair
contractual
terms
that
limit
network
flexibility,
reduce
access
to
high-value
providers,
and
drive
up
costs
without
improving
quality,”
the
organizations
stated
in
the
letter.
“These
trends
undermine
employers’
ability
to
design
benefit
plans
that
prioritize
value,
support
innovation,
and
deliver
high-quality
care.
“Your
bill
meaningfully
addresses
these
issues
by
supporting
incentives
for
patients
who
choose
high-quality,
lower-cost
providers;
allowing
employers
and
insurers
to
contract
with
hospitals
and
providers
without
being
required
to
enter
additional
agreements
with
affiliated
systems;
and
permitting
health
insurance
issuers
to
negotiate
their
own
rates
with
providers
who
are
not
parties
to
a
specific
contract,”
the
organizations
continued.
They
added
that
the
provisions
would
bring
more
balance
to
healthcare
markets,
increase
transparency
and
improve
access
to
high-value
care.
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