The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced a package of health care bills during a July 21 markup, including the AAMC-supported Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act (H.R. 3514), led by Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.). The bill, which would modernize the Medicare Advantage (MA) prior authorization process by requiring MA plans to establish electronic prior authorization programs and meet new beneficiary protection and reporting requirements, has now advanced through both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee in recent weeks [refer to Washington Highlights, July 17].
Included among the other bills advanced individually by the committee was the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act of 2026 (H.R. 9393), led by full committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), which would expand federal price transparency requirements for hospitals, health plans, ambulatory surgical centers, laboratories, and imaging providers while strengthening enforcement tools for regulators. The committee also advanced the Prior Authorization Accountability Act (H.R. 9396), which would require commercial insurers to publicly report approval and denial rates, appeal outcomes, response times, and their use of artificial intelligence in prior authorization determinations; the Medicare Advantage Cost Transparency Act (H.R. 9392), which would require MA encounter data to include allowed amounts and cost-sharing information per service; and legislation increasing data transparency for MA supplemental benefits (H.R. 5243).
The committee also advanced the Prices on the Wall Act of 2026 (H.R. 9390), sponsored by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), which would require certain providers to post prices on the walls of their facilities, on a party-line vote of 24-21. Pallone spoke in opposition, arguing the bill creates a false sense of transparency that could deter patients from seeking care.