North Indy News

Washington, D.C. – On April 20, 2023, Rep. Victoria Spartz (IN-05) re-introduced health care legislation to improve hospital competition and health care value.

“Health care spending is nearly a fifth of our GDP and a third of federal spending, while nearly one in five households carry medical debt, and hospital executives are making billions, building Taj Mahals, and investing billions in Wall Street,” said Rep. Spartz. “Congress must grow a backbone to challenge special interest groups—or go home. We should not only worry about fraud and abuse by the poor but also by the rich.”

These eight bills are part of a package aiming to:

Eliminate antitrust enforcement loopholes and barriers of entry:

1. Combatting Hospital Monopolies Act– to fix FTC oversight jurisdiction loophole to include nonprofit hospitals.

2. Restoring Rights of Medical Residents Act – to eliminate antitrust exemptions for medical residency.

3. Addressing Anti-Competitive Healthcare Contract Clauses Act – to evaluate the effects of anti-competitive contract clauses.

4. Restoring Rights of Physicians to Own Hospitals Act – to repeal the ban on physician-owned hospitals.

Improve transparency, accountability, and patient choice:

5. Preventing Hospital Overbilling of Medicare Act – to implement site-neutral payment policy addressing dishonest overbilling by off-campus hospital locations.

6. Empowering Patient Choice of Medical Care Act- to eliminate inpatient-only service list.

7. Holding Nonprofit Hospitals Accountable Act– to define a community benefit standard for tax-exempt hospital status.

Enhance state health care market competition:

8. Measuring State Healthcare Freedom Act – to develop a state health care market competition index and empower states to promote competition.

Original source can be found here.