Michigan House unveils bipartisan plan to cut health care costs, boost affordability

(The Center Square) – The Michigan House on Wednesday unveiled a 15-bill bipartisan plan to improve health care quality while boosting accessibility and affordability.

Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, and Reps. Julie Calley, R-Portland, Abdullah Hammoud, D-Dearborn, and Bronna Kahle, R-Adrian, are championing the plan aimed at lowering the cost of prescription medicine, increasing access to care, and improving care for the healthcare industry.

“No one should have to choose between putting food on the table or paying for the medicine they desperately need – and yet that is the daily reality for many people in our state,” Calley said. “Life-saving prescriptions are worthless if people can’t afford them. We must take action to save people money, save lives and make health care work for Michigan families.”

Proposals include capping out-of-pocket insulin costs, ensure access to life-saving treatments like oral chemotherapy, checking unregulated prescription middlemen, and holding drug companies accountable by requiring manufacturers to submit details of drug pricing schedules.

“This is simply about better health care that people can actually afford,” Kahle said. “These cost-saving reforms are needed now more than ever, with so many people struggling to make ends meet during the ongoing pandemic. Saving money on health care could make a huge difference – for senior citizens living on fixed incomes and families working hard to get ahead.”

Lawmakers claimed their reforms will help Michigan families gain access to affordable health care.

“This package will help safeguard people from bad actors in the system who put profits over patients and protect people’s pocketbooks in the midst of a pandemic where so many families are struggling,” Hammoud said. “It will improve quality of care by adding transparency, creating accountability and prohibiting underhanded practices like non-medical switching.”

While some argue companies will pass down all cost-changes to consumers, Hammoud argued the changes will cut overall health care costs because missed prescription drugs or insulin injections result in expensive emergency room care.

“Michigan is home to some of the finest health systems and healthcare providers in the nation, if not the world. But too often, Michiganders can’t access or afford the healthcare they need because of where they live, what they do, or how much they earn,” Wentworth said. “The Michigan House of Representatives is going to change that.”

A full list of proposed reforms can be found here.

Other states, including Minnesota and Colorado, have enacted similar price caps on out-of-pocket insulin.

Bobby Mukkamala, MD, president of the Michigan State Medical Society, welcomed the package.

In releasing this legislative package today, Michigan’s House of Representatives and Speaker Wentworth have made it clear that they intend to tackle issues aiming to improve Michigan’s health care and public health, which is a goal they share with our more than 15,000 member physicians across the state,” Mukkamala said in a statement.

Mukkamala said Michigan physicians are focused on increasing access to quality care through needed prior authorization reforms, the expansion of telemedicine options, reductions in health disparities among historically marginalized groups, support of Michigan’s physician-led patient care model.

“To that end, Michigan’s physician community continues to believe that battling the COVID-19 pandemic must remain our top priority, which means vaccinating as many people as quickly as possible. To date, Michigan’s primary care physicians have been kept on the sidelines of that effort, and that’s something we need to change immediately.”

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