Employer Groups Applaud Bill that Aims to Spur Competition in Healthcare - MedCity News

"The Healthy Competition for Better Care Act aims to improve competition in healthcare by banning several types of anticompetitive contracts between insurers and healthcare providers. It would prohibit all-or-nothing clauses that force insurers to include every provider in their network, anti-steering and anti-tiering clauses that limit employers' ability to direct patients to lower-cost or higher-quality providers, most-favored-nation clauses that require insurers to receive the lowest price and can drive prices up overall and gag clauses that restrict sharing cost information."

"The cost of health care has outpaced inflation for more than two decades. That is a staggering fact that Americans feel. My bill creates incentives for real competition in health care to drive down costs for patients."

"Across the country, provider systems are using their dominant positions to impose restrictive and often unfair contractual terms that limit network flexibility, reduce access to high-value providers, and drive up costs without improving quality."

Employer advocacy groups have endorsed the Healthy Competition for Better Care Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in both chambers of Congress. The legislation targets anticompetitive practices between insurers and healthcare providers, including all-or-nothing clauses, anti-steering provisions, most-favored-nation clauses, and gag clauses that restrict cost information sharing. Sponsor Jon Husted emphasizes that healthcare costs have exceeded inflation for over two decades, and the bill aims to create competitive incentives that lower costs. Employer groups supporting the measure cite concerns about health system consolidation and restrictive contractual terms that limit network flexibility, reduce access to quality providers, and increase expenses without improving care quality.

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