House Budget Committee hosts hearing on health care affordability

The House Budget Committee hosted a hearing Jan. 21 on health care affordability titled, “Reverse the Curse: Skyrocketing Health Care Costs and America’s Fiscal Future.” The AHA shared a series of recommendations with the committee, urging Congress to pass legislation that would streamline prior authorization requirements under Medicare Advantage plans and a bill that would apply a federal prompt payment standard to MA plans to help ensure that hospitals receive timely payments from MA plans for necessary patient services. The AHA also expressed concerns about potential changes to price transparency requirements and strongly opposed any efforts to expand site-neutral payment cuts.