Texans for Affordable Healthcare Calls on Lawmakers to Support Review Process for New Healthcare Mandates

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Texans for Affordable Healthcare today offered its support for newly filed legislation that would create a fiscal note process for estimating the cost of proposed mandates in healthcare. House Bill 1906, filed by State Rep. Dennis Paul, and Senate Bill 818, filed by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, are intended to ensure that lawmakers have clarity regarding how proposed rules and regulations impact, and in some cases harm, Texas families and businesses.

In 2023, Texas lawmakers filed over 100 proposed new healthcare mandates, seeking to micromanage everything from employer-sponsored health benefits to the way pharmacists are compensated for filling prescriptions. Experts warned that many of those mandates would lead to increased out-of-pocket expenses, higher insurance premiums, and more expensive healthcare services and prescription drugs.

Meanwhile, health insurance premiums in Texas have jumped more than 5% for three consecutive years. A voter survey commissioned by TAHC and conducted by Baselice & Associates in September found that 37% of respondents had "skipped doses of a medication, discontinued a medication, or delayed or avoided a medical procedure because [they] could not afford to pay for it." A similar percentage reported they had struggled to pay back medical debt to a healthcare provider.

"We have a real healthcare cost crisis in Texas," said TAHC Executive Director Annie Spilman. "There are many factors that go into rising healthcare costs, but one that is completely in our control is whether we make this crisis worse by layering expensive mandates onto the system. These mandates essentially function as a tax on patients and families. If lawmakers are going to continue to use the government to micromanage our healthcare, they need to be able to see the impact it has on families and businesses. The new review process created by HB 1906 and SB 818 will help our elected officials make informed decisions and be more transparent with their constituents."

HB 1906 and SB 818 instruct the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston to offer analysis of proposed legislation imposing new mandates on health benefits. That analysis would be available if requested by the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House, or certain committee chairs in either house.

Over 40 new legislative mandates have been filed thus far in the 2025 legislative session.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Alex Weintz; [email protected]

SOURCE Texans for Affordable Healthcare