Joe Biden to deliver remarks on actions to lower health care costs

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks from the White House on Friday afternoon about the latest actions his administration is taking to lower health care costs and limit so-called insurance junk fees to consumers.

Biden will speak from the East Room around 3:30 p.m. ET about the series of regulatory moves, which the White House announced in a fact sheet earlier in the day.

Among the administration’s new efforts are proposed rules that would close loopholes that let companies offer “misleading insurance products that can discriminate based on pre-existing conditions and trick consumers into buying products that provide little or no coverage when they need it most,” the White House said.

Actions taken by the Trump administration had allowed insurance companies to take advantage of those loopholes, it added.

The Biden administration also announced new rules to further curb surprise medical billing in which millions of people have received unexpected bills for health care they thought was in-network and covered by their insurance. The White House said these surprise bills can cost people an average of $750 to $2,600.

The administration said it will issue guidance to make clear that it’s illegal under federal law for health plans that contract with hospitals to claim that they are not technically in-network.

“Health care services provided by these providers are either out-of-network and subject to the surprise billing protections,” the White House said, “Or they are in-network and subject to the ACA’s annual limitation on cost-sharing, further protecting consumers from excessive out-of-pocket costs.”

The administration will also make clear that health plans and providers must make information about “facility fees” for care provided outside of hospitals, like at a doctor’s office, available to consumers, according to the fact sheet.

In addition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Treasury are planning to collaborate to determine if health care providers are complying with consumer protections when signing up patients for third-party medical credit cards.

The White House said these new actions are part of the president’s economic vision, recently dubbed “Bidenomics.” His administration has been trying to tackle extra fees that have led to high costs for consumers in other industries, such as when people travel or order tickets for a concert or sporting event.