Senator Bill Cassidy, MD, R-Louisiana has put forward a series of proposals that he hopes will bring about a reduction in health care costs. The primary target of the proposal is transparency in drug pricing and elective medical procedures. The move comes at a time when health insurance premiums are rising along with the cost of care, and the Senator has called the system ‘unaffordable and unsustainable.’ Cassidy currently serves on the Senate health and finance committees and has also endorsed short-term insurance plans, health savings accounts (HSAs), while also combining Medicaid expansion funds and individual marketplace risk pools. Transparency, however, is at the heart of the plan to allow patients to assess prices before they choose their medical services. To this end, it calls for an end to pharmacy gag clauses, allowing Medicare to pay no more than the lowest-price drug in a class and pegging new medicines to an international number. Within the proposals is also a call for Congress to promote lower-cost care settings, such as ambulatory surgery centers, free-standing emergency rooms, and rural emergency centers. Critics of the plans, as well as the , have said that they will siphon off health enrolless from the marketplaces set up by the Affordable Care Act, increasing premiums as only sicker, more costly enrollees are left behind. In addition to these proposals, there have been other efforts by Republicans to address healthcare costs over the past few years.
Senator Bill Cassidy, MD, R-Louisiana has put forward a series of proposals that he hopes will bring about a reduction in health care costs. The primary target of the proposal is transparency in drug pricing and elective medical procedures. The move comes at a time when health insurance premiums are rising along with the cost of care, and the Senator has called the system ‘unaffordable and unsustainable.’ Cassidy currently serves on the Senate health and finance committees and has also endorsed short-term insurance plans, health savings accounts (HSAs), while also combining Medicaid expansion funds and individual marketplace risk pools. Transparency, however, is at the heart of the plan to allow patients to assess prices before they choose their medical services. To this end, it calls for an end to pharmacy gag clauses, allowing Medicare to pay no more than the lowest-price drug in a class and pegging new medicines to an international number. Within the proposals is also a call for Congress to promote lower-cost care settings, such as ambulatory surgery centers, free-standing emergency rooms, and rural emergency centers. In addition to these proposals, there have been other efforts by Republicans to address healthcare costs over the past few years.