Sponsors (14)
Official title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the limitations on contributions to health savings accounts, to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for hospital and insurer price transparency, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 16, 2026 by Eric Burlison · Last progress April 16, 2026
The bill trades broader price transparency, access expansions, standardized data, and stronger Medicare oversight (benefiting patients, plans, and policymakers) against substantial compliance costs, penalty risks, market/ privacy impacts, and shifts in regulatory authority that could raise prices or burden smaller providers.
Millions of patients (insured and uninsured) will get much clearer, machine-readable price information (monthly hospital/ASC negotiated rates, cash prices, and itemized EOBs), improving the ability to compare costs and anticipate out-of-pocket spending before care.
Cash-paying patients can access and rely on disclosed discounted cash prices as payment in full, lowering immediate out-of-pocket costs for uninsured and self-pay consumers.
Medicare Part B beneficiaries may pay lower coinsurance in quarters when manufacturers pay required rebates and the rebate mechanism increases transparency and deposits to the Medicare trust fund, potentially improving program solvency.
Hospitals, ASCs, health plans, and vendors face substantial IT, data-collection, and ongoing administrative costs to compile, maintain, and publish machine‑readable price and claims datasets—costs that will fall disproportionately on smaller providers and may be passed to consumers.
Very large civil monetary penalties (including per‑day penalties referenced in the bill) create high financial risk for providers and plans, encouraging defensive behavior, litigation, reduced data sharing, or exits from networks.
Public disclosure of negotiated rates, contracting algorithms, and payer‑specific prices may change market behavior (collusion, price convergence, or altered contracting) and could unintentionally raise premiums or provider prices for some insured patients.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Reforms HSA rules, requires broad price transparency at hospitals and ASCs, forces vendor and plan pricing disclosures, changes Part B selected‑drug payment/rebate mechanics, and creates a federal expanded‑access drug program.
Changes tax rules for health savings accounts (HSAs), expands and clarifies employer-pool and vendor disclosure rules under ERISA, strengthens hospital and ambulatory surgical center price-transparency requirements, adjusts Medicare Part B payment and manufacturer rebate rules for selected drugs, and creates a federal category and protocols for certain expanded‑access prescription drugs. The bill requires new public, machine‑readable price lists and consumer‑friendly price lists for hospitals and certain outpatient centers, mandates broad quarterly financial and pricing disclosures from health plan service providers, revises HSA contribution limits and catch‑up rules, alters Medicare Part B selected‑drug payment and rebate mechanics, and preempts or sets rules for state scope‑of‑practice and coverage in limited cases.