Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 24 May 2019

GOP, Democrats team up to

address surprise medical bills

By RICARDO ALONSO- echoes a time when health lawmakers still have to
ZALDIVAR care issues often led to figure out how hospitals,
WASHINGTON (AP) — dialogue and coopera- doctors and insurers would
Plunging ahead despite tion between political par- settle the costs among
paralyzing partisanship in ties. Alexander chairs the themselves. Insurers and
the nation's capital, senior Health, Education, Labor employers who sponsor
lawmakers of both parties and Pensions committee, workplace coverage favor
Thursday proposed leg- while Murray is the ranking a set formula for calculat-
islation to tackle surprise Democrat. ing fees, while hospitals
medical bills and other "We can make progress and doctors are calling for
concerns, from prescription when both sides are at the arbitration.
Two people ask to take a photo with House Judiciary Commit- drug costs to uneven vac- table ready to put patients Alexander and Murray
tee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., center, as the Senate and cination rates. and families first," Murray have plenty of company
the House of Representatives shut down for the week-long Me- The draft bill from Sens. La- said in a statement. Alex- on surprise medical bills,
morial Day recess, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May
23, 2019. mar Alexander, R-Tenn., ander said he wants to since lawmakers in both
Associated Press and Patty Murray, D-Wash., bring the bill to the Senate chambers of Congress
floor in July and get legis- have advanced various
lation on President Donald proposals. A lobbying war
Trump's desk. has broken out between
But with Trump threatening insurers and employers on
to halt all cooperation with one side, and hospitals and
Democrats unless House doctors on the other, over
Democrats stop investigat- how to determine pay-
ing him, the outlook is un- ments once patients are
clear. Alexander says his bill no longer liable for out-of-
represents "common sense network care.
steps" — more than 30 spe- On prescription drugs, the
cific ideas — that are read- bill includes a smorgasbord
ily achievable. of measures aimed at indi-
"Surprise medical bills" are rectly lowering drug prices.
the shockingly high charg- But none of the proposals
es insured patients can get would require drugmakers
hit with when a hospital or to lower their prices or au-
doctor is not in their insurers' thorize the government to
network. Earlier this month, negotiate better deals.
Trump held a White House Instead, several sections
event to declare his eager- of the bill would discour-
ness to sign a fix into law. age industry tactics long
The Alexander-Murray leg- used to delay the launch
islation would protect pa- of lower-priced generic
tients by limiting their finan- medications. For instance,
cial responsibility to their branded drug manufac-
own plan's in-network rates, turers routinely file frivolous
when they receive emer- petitions with the Food
gency care at an out-of- and Drug Administration
network hospital, or when against potential generic
an out-of-network clinician competitors, often delay-
provides services at an in- ing their entry to the market
network facility. for months. The bill would
But the legislation remains empower the FDA to ig-
a work in progress, since nore such petitions.q