U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said on July 23 that the committee voted 21-1 to advance the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act. The legislation aims to increase price transparency in health care and is a central component of Cassidy’s Money and Value for Patients (MVP) agenda.
“I’m pleased to say that a significant portion of the MVP agenda passed out of committee,” Cassidy said. “This is the most expansive, aggressive, comprehensive, patient focused, business focused, business owner focused piece of legislation for price transparency that has ever passed in Congress.”
Cassidy highlighted his experience as a doctor working with uninsured and poorly insured patients as informing his perspective on making health care more affordable. He recalled previous speeches urging President Trump and Congress to work together to lower health care costs by giving money directly to patients, cutting out middlemen, and increasing price transparency. Cassidy also outlined details of his MVP agenda in an op-ed.
The article noted that President Trump recently signed Cassidy’s PBM Reform Act into law. This act seeks to increase price transparency and address practices by pharmacy benefit managers that can drive up prescription drug prices for patients. Additionally, Cassidy led the Health Care Freedom for Patients Act with Senator Mike Crapo as an alternative proposal related to insurance company funding.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee works on public health policy issues including education and workforce matters across the United States; it provides oversight over federal laws affecting these sectors and agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to the official website.
Cassidy concluded by encouraging viewers to watch his full speech online.