State Policy Efforts to Enhance Consumer Protections in Health Care and Improve the Value of Insurance

Robust consumer protections play an important role in improving the value of health insurance by ensuring that health plans are fair, transparent, and provide people with meaningful and usable coverage. Recent federal legislative and regulatory actions have expanded and enhanced consumer protections in health care, and states are enacting their own reforms to shield people from common provider and insurance industry practices–such as routine claims denials or charging fees unrelated to a health care service–that can compromise affordability and undermine access to care.

• Dr. Deidre S. Gifford will discuss Connecticut’s regulation of facility fee billing, including the 2023 law (Public Act 23-171) that expands prohibition on facility fees on certain routine services provided at a hospital and grants the Connecticut Office of Health Strategy additional enforcement authority.
• Minnesota State Senator Kelly L. Morrison will discuss pending legislation (SF 3532) that would limit the use of prior authorization for several services - including mental health and substance abuse disorder treatment, cancer treatment, and certain preventive services - as well as limit prior authorization use for generic drugs and biosimilars.
• Jonathan Wolfson will provide an overview of Cicero’s Patient’s Right to Save Act and its influence on Tennessee state law that allows insured individuals to pay cash prices for health care services and have the amount credited toward their plan deductible. 

Join the Center for American Progress for a discussion about state initiatives to improve affordability through enhanced consumer protections, including equalizing payment rates across different settings (site neutral policies), limiting prior authorization, and allowing consumers to apply cash price toward their insurance deductibles.

Thursday, May 16, 2024 - 1:00 pm (U.S./Eastern)