The House is advancing realistic and much-needed health reform initiatives. Here is my piece in RealClearPolicy with more detail:
For the first time in nearly six years, health reform legislation that’s friendly to patient choice, transparency, and market competition has passed the House of Representatives.
It was nearly six years ago when late Sen. John McCain tragically gave a thumbs down to continuing the process of advancing patient-centered health reform legislation when he shut down the Repeal and Replace effort.
Nancy Pelosi controlled the gavel for four intervening years, but now that Speaker Kevin McCarthy is in charge, he and dozens of other House leaders are seizing the health reform agenda once again with fresh ideas and a new approach.
Two measures are teed up, appropriately acronymed PATIENT and CHOICE.
On June 21, the House of Representatives passed the CHOICE Arrangement Act (stands for Custom Health Option and Individual Care Expense arrangements). The bill was jointly drafted by the Ways & Means and the Education and the Workforce committees to expand more affordable and flexible health coverage options, including codifying and expanding Association Health Plans and Health Reimbursement Arrangements. It passed 220-209.
Next up: The PATIENT Act (Promoting Access to Treatments and Increasing Extremely Needed Transparency Act) to tackle health care costs by increasing transparency and competition. After numerous hearings, the bill passed through the Energy and Commerce Committee 49-0, and a House floor vote is expected in July. Here is a section-by-section summary…