House Energy and Commerce Committee Markup on Health Bills

This week, the House Energy & Commerce (E&C) Committee announced a full committee markup of 15 health bills held on Wednesday, July 19^th. E&C Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers announced the committee’s dedication to addressing America’s growing health care disparities to ensure increased access to health care services.

  Bills that may of particular importance to the counseling community include:

• The Telehealth Benefit Expansion for Workers Act of 2023 (H.R. 824), sponsored by Representative Walberg. This bill would expand requirements to allow for telehealth benefits under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Representative Walberg suggested an amendment that was agreed by voice vote (29-20) to allow employers to offer telehealth benefits to their employees that do not currently have any benefits by codifying flexibilities for defined-benefit group health plans.
• The Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver Infants Early (PREEMIE) Reauthorization Act of 2023 (H.R. 3226), sponsored by Representative Eshoo, to study maternal health and preterm births. This bill was favorably reported in a unanimous vote 48-0.
• The Preventing Maternal Deaths Reauthorization Act of 2023 (H.R. 3838), sponsored by Representative Burgess. This legislation aims to eliminate and improve disparities in maternal health outcomes for pregnancy-related deaths. In the House vote on Wednesday, the bill was favorably reported in a unanimous vote 50-0.
• The Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act (H.R. 4531), sponsored by Representative Guthrie. This bill would reauthorize programs that provide opioid use disorder, recovery, and treatment services. Three amendments were offered on the floor. The first by Representative Guthrie to substitute AINS to curb illicit drug trafficking in communities. Representative Pfluger offered an amendment that makes a technical correction to allow the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to track non-animal use of xylazine. Lastly, Representative Castor suggested an amendment that would increase the applicable federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for state expenditures attributable to certain behavioral health services. The bill was favorably reported by the House in a unanimous vote 49-0.

For any questions, please contact ACA’s Government Affairs team at advocacy@counseling.org.