WASHINGTON — The Senate health committee approved a package of bills on Wednesday aimed at lowering the cost of medical care, from ending surprise medical bills to curbing prescription drug price surges, with a rare bipartisan vote that could vault it toward final passage.Still, even some Democrats who supported the legislation couched it as cold comfort as the Trump administration prepares to argue before a federal appeals court next month that the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down as unconstitutional.The cost-cutting legislation is a priority of Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the health committee chairman who will retire next year and is seeking a victory after his plan last year with Senator Patty Murray of Washington to stabilize the Affordable Care Act insurance markets failed.The new package includes a plan to eliminate surprise medical bills, which have become a hot political cause this year, targeted by President Trump and lawmakers from both parties. It also addresses the rising cost of prescription drugs, with a set of provisions that limit the games pharmaceutical companies can play to protect monopolies on the drugs they sell.Other proposals seek to chip away at the opacity around medical prices, a goal that Mr. Trump also seized on with a new executive order this week intended to require insurers, doctors and hospitals to inform patients how much their care will cost before they receive it. The package also includes a measure from Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to raise the smoking age in every state to 21 from 18.Mr. Alexander, who worked on the package with Ms. Murray, the committee’s ranking Democrat, emphasized that it included proposals from 36 Democrats and 29 Republicans.“This legislation will help to lower the cost of health care, which has become a tax on family budgets and on businesses, on federal and state governments,” Mr. Alexander said after the package passed, 20 to 3. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president, and Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican, voted no.The decision to add the majority leader’s bill to the mix should help the package reach the Senate floor this summer. Mr. McConnell, a longtime ally of the tobacco industry, has said concerns about the high rate of youth vaping motivated him to support raising the minimum age for buying e-cigarettes as well as tobacco.His proposal followed a major tobacco and e-cigarette industry campaign to raise the minimum age, known as “Tobacco 21,” an apparent effort to distance companies from accusations that they have deliberately marketed their products to youths to hook a new generation.There has been broad consensus in Washington to eliminate so-called surprise medical billing — when patients receive medical care, then get bills from providers they did not choose. But doctors, hospitals and insurance companies have disagreed about exa
With Rare Comity, Senate Panel Advances Bills to Lower Health Costs
WASHINGTON — The Senate health committee approved a package of bills on Wednesday aimed at lowering the cost of medical care, from ending surprise medical bills to curbing prescription drug price surges, with a rare bipartisan vote that could vault it toward final passage.Still, even some Democrats who supported the legislation couched it as cold comfort as the Trump administration prepares to argue before a federal appeals court next month that the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down as unconstitutional.The cost-cutting legislation is a priority of Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the health committee chairman who will retire next year and is seeking a victory after his plan last year with Senator Patty Murray of Washington to stabilize the Affordable Care Act insurance markets failed.The new package includes a plan to eliminate surprise medical bills, which have become a hot political cause this year, targeted by President Trump and lawmakers from both parties. It also addresses the rising cost of prescription drugs, with a set of provisions that limit the games pharmaceutical companies can play to protect monopolies on the drugs they sell.Other proposals seek to chip away at the opacity around medical prices, a goal that Mr. Trump also seized on with a new executive order this week intended to require insurers, doctors and hospitals to inform patients how much their care will cost before they receive it. The package also includes a measure from Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, to raise the smoking age in every state to 21 from 18.Mr. Alexander, who worked on the package with Ms. Murray, the committee’s ranking Democrat, emphasized that it included proposals from 36 Democrats and 29 Republicans.“This legislation will help to lower the cost of health care, which has become a tax on family budgets and on businesses, on federal and state governments,” Mr. Alexander said after the package passed, 20 to 3. Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president, and Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican, voted no.The decision to add the majority leader’s bill to the mix should help the package reach the Senate floor this summer. Mr. McConnell, a longtime ally of the tobacco industry, has said concerns about the high rate of youth vaping motivated him to support raising the minimum age for buying e-cigarettes as well as tobacco.His proposal followed a major tobacco and e-cigarette industry campaign to raise the minimum age, known as “Tobacco 21,” an apparent effort to distance companies from accusations that they have deliberately marketed their products to youths to hook a new generation.There has been broad consensus in Washington to eliminate so-called surprise medical billing — when patients receive medical care, then get bills from providers they did not choose. But doctors, hospitals and insurance companies have disagreed about exa
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