Sponsor
Eric Burlison
Representative · R-MO
Representative · R-MO
Official title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify health savings accounts, to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for hospital and insurer price transparency, and for other purposes.
Introduced August 3, 2026 by Eric Burlison · Last progress August 3, 2026
The bill increases patient and consumer price transparency, modernizes HSAs, expands access to some drugs, and clarifies Fed accounting—at the cost of substantial new reporting, privacy and compliance burdens (with heavy penalties) on providers, plans, vendors, and potential unintended effects on premiums, ACA subsidy eligibility, drug pricing, and state regulatory authority.
Patients and consumers (including uninsured and Medicaid beneficiaries) get standardized, machine‑readable price information and lists of shoppable services (300+ now, all after 2027), plus disclosed cash prices accepted as payment in full, enabling comparison shopping and better price transparency for routine care.
Taxpayers with HSAs see modernized rules: simplified, annually indexed contribution limits (including indexed 50+ catch‑up amounts), expanded rollover and trustee correction options, tax-favored charitable seed contributions to HSAs, and bankruptcy protection for HSA balances, making it easier to save tax‑advantaged for medical costs and protecting balances.
Group marketplace pools expand access to group health plans (including standalone drug coverage) for small employers and individuals, with nondiscrimination rules that protect people with preexisting conditions.
Hospitals, labs, ASCs, health plans, and vendors face substantial new IT, administrative, and reporting costs plus daily or very large civil penalties for noncompliance to produce monthly/quarterly machine‑readable price, rate, and transactional files, which may financially strain smaller and rural providers and be passed on to consumers.
Broad disclosure of payer‑specific negotiated rates, algorithms, and reconciliation formulas could prompt contract disputes, enable payer/provider price‑steering or gaming, and have uncertain effects on negotiated reimbursements and insurance premiums.
Requiring disclosure of detailed payment and reconciliation data risks exposing competitively sensitive information and PHI‑linked details, raising legal, competitive, and HIPAA/privacy compliance burdens for plans, vendors, and providers.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Rewrites HSA limits; creates ERISA health‑marketplace pools and service‑provider disclosure rules; mandates hospital/ASC price transparency; adjusts Medicare drug payments/rebates; authorizes expanded‑access drugs; alters Fed earnings accounting.
Changes rules for health savings accounts (HSA) and tax-code cross-references; creates new ERISA treatment for "health marketplace pools" and requires expanded disclosure from administrative service providers; strengthens hospital and ambulatory surgical center price-transparency requirements; revises certain Medicare Part B payment and rebate rules for negotiated drugs; creates a federal framework for expanded-access prescription drugs; and adjusts a Federal Reserve earnings allocation mechanism. The bill sets phased effective dates (some immediate for taxable years after enactment, some with multi-year implementation deadlines) and directs multiple agency rulemakings and reporting requirements.