WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks from the White House Friday afternoon on the latest steps his administration is taking to reduce health care costs and limit so-called junk insurance rates for consumers.
Biden will speak from the East Room at around 3:30 p.m. ET about the series of regulatory moves, which the White House announced in a briefing earlier that day.
Among the administration’s new efforts are proposed rules that would close loopholes that allow companies to offer “deceptive insurance products that can discriminate based on pre-existing conditions and mislead consumers into buying products that provide little or no coverage.” when they need it most,” the White told the house.
Actions taken by the Trump administration had allowed insurance companies to take advantage of those loopholes, he added.
The Biden administration also announced new rules to further curb surprise medical billing in which millions of people have received unexpected bills for medical care they thought was in-network and covered by their insurance. The White House said these surprise tickets can cost people an average of $750 to $2,600.
The administration said it will issue guidance to make clear that it is illegal under federal law for health plans that contract with hospitals to claim they are technically not in-network.
“Health care services provided by these providers are either out-of-network and subject to surprise billing protections,” the White House said, “or are in-network and subject to the annual cost-sharing limitation of the ACA, protecting even more consumers from excessive out-of-pocket costs.”
The administration will also make it clear that health plans and providers must make information about “facility fees” available to consumers for care provided outside of hospitals, such as in a doctor’s office, according to the informational page.
In addition, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Treasury plan to collaborate to determine whether health care providers are complying with consumer protections when enrolling patients on third-party medical credit cards. .
The White House said these new actions are part of the president’s economic vision, recently dubbed “Bidenomics.” His administration has been trying to address additional fees that have led to high costs for consumers in other industries, such as when people travel or buy tickets to a concert or sporting event.
