NABIP urges Congress to address underlying healthcare costs

A health agents’ association told Congress this week that health coverage cannot become meaningfully more affordable without addressing healthcare's underlying cost.

The National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals recently submitted a response to a request for information from the Senate Finance Committee’s Health Coverage That Works for Everyone. In that response, NABIP outlined its recommendations to improve the nation’s private health coverage system.

In late July, the Senate Finance Committee’s ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore, requested recommendations on affordability, employer-sponsored coverage, benefit design, coverage expansion, transparency, vertical integration, fraud and oversight across the individual and employer markets.

“Too often, the healthcare debate focuses on who pays the bill rather than why the bill is so high in the first place,” said Mychal Walker, president of NABIP, in a news release. “If we want to make coverage more affordable for families and employers, we have to address the underlying cost of medical care and prescription drugs while preserving the coverage choices and professional guidance Americans rely on.”

NABIP cautioned that expanding, restructuring or standardizing coverage without confronting healthcare prices, market dynamics, administrative burdens, consolidation and other cost drivers risks shifting costs rather than reducing them. The association urged policymakers to evaluate reforms based on whether they improve affordability, access, quality, consumer choice and patients’ ability to use their coverage when they need care.

NABIP's recommendations

Among its recommendations, NABIP called on Congress to:

• Address the underlying drivers of healthcare costs, including prescription drug costs, provider consolidation and market concentration, while advancing meaningful price transparency and greater accountability across vertically integrated healthcare entities.
• Strengthen employer-sponsored coverage, preserving ERISA’s national framework and employers’ ability to design benefits that meet the needs of their workforces while reducing unnecessary administrative and compliance burdens.
• Improve the individual market and Affordable Care Act Marketplace through targeted reforms that preserve comprehensive private coverage, consumer protections and market stability while improving enrollment, eligibility and verification processes.
• Protect consumer choice by making coverage options easier to understand and compare rather than imposing one-size-fits-all benefit designs.
• Increase transparency and accountability across insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, third-party administrators, healthcare providers and other entities that influence healthcare costs, access and coverage.
• Preserve access to licensed agents and brokers, who provide consumers and employers with year-round assistance navigating increasingly complex coverage decisions, claims, networks, formularies and regulatory requirements.

Emphasizing strong consumer protections

NABIP’s response also emphasizes strong consumer protections and accountability, including enforcement against deceptive marketing, unauthorized enrollment and other misconduct, while ensuring that compliant licensed professionals can continue helping consumers navigate their coverage options.

“NABIP members see firsthand where the healthcare system works and where it creates unnecessary costs, confusion and barriers for consumers and employers,” said Michael Andel, NABIP senior vice president of government affairs.

“Our recommendations bring that real-world experience to the policy discussion. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress on practical reforms that lower costs, strengthen coverage and improve the healthcare experience for the people and employers we serve.”

This report compiled by InsuranceNewsNet staff.