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The House Ways and Means Committee cleared bipartisan legislation on Wednesday to reduce insurance care denials in privately run Medicare Advantage plans, and boost price transparency.

The panel advanced seven health bills to the full House floor. Chief among them was the Improving Seniors Timely Access to Care Act, which introduces several reforms to prior authorization, which requires a doctor to get approval from insurance companies before delivering care to patients. Medicare Advantage plans use prior authorization as a cost-control tool, but lawmakers say insurers abuse it.

“Unnecessary red tape from insurance companies delays necessary care,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), a leading co-sponsor of the bill, which advanced unanimously. “Three out of four patients with an MA plan are subject to prior authorization, and many of their claims are unnecessarily denied.”

The legislation would require Medicare Advantage plans to adopt electronic prior authorization to avoid costly delays in care and insurers to be more transparent about when they use prior authorization. It also clarifies the Health Department's’ authority to set timelines for when a plan must answer a request from a doctor to ensure there aren’t delays in delivering care.

“If you look at what is happening with prior authorization, they have weaponized this,” said Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), a practicing urologist, referring to Medicare Advantage insurers. “They have weaponized a system to their own profit.”

This is the latest attempt to pass the bill. The House unanimously passed the legislation in 2022, but it stalled in the Senate over cost concerns. An updated estimate from the nonpartisan legislative scorekeeper the Congressional Budget Office found it will not add to the deficit, which bolsters the bill’s chances of passage through Congress.

CMS has taken steps to address prior authorization, including a 2024 final rule that mandates insurers respond to urgent requests from providers within 72 hours and to standard requests within seven days. However, the legislation gives the Health and Human Services Department the power to change the mandated deadline for an urgent request to 24 hours.

While all the bills advanced with bipartisan support, Democrats on the panel highlighted the impact of Medicaid cuts in last year’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act to rural hospitals.

“As the full ramifications of their $1 trillion in cuts to the system begin to take hold, hundreds of hospitals around the country are wondering if they’ll be able to keep the lights on,” said Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the panel’s top Democrat.

Some of the bills advanced by the panel include:

• The Health Care Price Certainty for Americans Act: The bill codifies federal regulations introduced under the first Trump administration, which mandate hospitals and insurance plans post prices of certain services.
• The Medicare Access to Rural Anesthesiology Act: The bill enables rural hospitals to use a payment incentive program to hire anesthesiologists in rural communities. Currently rural hospitals can use a program that enables extra Medicare reimbursement for anesthesiology services if a nurse anesthesiologist or physician assistant does them. The bill would expand reimbursement to physician anesthesiologists.
• The Medicare Advantage MLR Transparency Act: The bill mandates Medicare Advantage plans disclose more information about the cost of their plan benefits.