Hello partners,

As we head further into 2024 and all eyes turn towards the election, families in America are struggling due to our nation’s ongoing healthcare affordability crisis. Nearly half of all Americans have reported having to forgo medical care due to cost, and nearly one third say that the high cost of medical care is interfering with their ability to secure basic needs like food and housing, and medical debt is on the rise.

While the House took an important step with the December passage of the bipartisan Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, we have yet to see this legislation get consideration in the Senate. And while more Americans are covered than ever, that coverage and their financial security is further at risk as enhanced premium tax credits for marketplace coverage are set to expire at the end of next year.

Please join us in sending this letter to the Senate Finance Committee urging it to hold a hearing before the August recess period to discuss policy solutions to address this crisis, which is largely driven by high and rising prices hospital prices and health care industry consolidation.

Specifically, we are urging the Finance Committee to discuss bipartisan solutions in the Lower Cost, More Transparency Act, including:

• Enacting site neutral payments for drug administration services to help ensure consumers pay the same price for the same service regardless of where the service is performed;
• Advancing billing transparency reforms so off-campus hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) are required to use a separate identifier when billing to Medicare or commercial insurers to ensure large hospital systems do not overcharge for the care they deliver in outpatient settings;

And additionally, we urge the Senate to make the Advanced Premium Tax Credits (APTCs) permanent to provide critical support and financial stability for families who purchase health coverage through marketplaces.

You can read the letter here, and to sign-on, please complete this form by EOD Tuesday, June 4, if you're interested in joining this effort.
Also, please join Families USA on Thursday, June 20, at 1pm ET, for our latest webinar, The Weight of High Hospital Prices: Keeping Workers and Small Businesses Under Water.

Our nation's health care affordability crisis not only harms patients and their families, it is actively hurting workers and small businesses. High and rising hospital prices are a hidden driver of stagnating wages for workers and higher operating costs for small business owners.

Families USA along with leading labor and small business groups will break down what is at stake and how we can work towards solutions.

You can register to attend here.

Thank you, and please let me know if you have any questions.

Mike Persley
Strategic Partnerships Campaign Manager
Families USA


Families USA
1225 New York Ave NW
Suite 800
Washington, DC xxxxxx
United States
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