Senate Panel Approves Health Cost Bill but Plans Changes

On Wednesday, Roll Call reports, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved by a 20-3 vote legislation aimed at lowering health care costs. Senators, though, intimated that more changes are likely before the floor debate in July. Next month's vote will almost certainly set up a flurry of lobbying and debate among Capitol Hill legislators over changes to it. The three committee members who voted against the bill were Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Surprise medical bills remain a frustration for consumers and have emerged as a growing political issue. The legislation looks to create a benchmark rate for insurers to pay providers in certain cases when a patient unintentionally receives out-of-network care or does so in an emergency, which is one key area where the bill could change prior to reaching the Senate floor. Several committee members have petitioned for payers and providers to be permitted to use arbitration if they are unable to reach an agreement on their own.