Rep. Katie Porter's Patients Before Profit Act is exciting.
I was honored when Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) reached out to me as she was preparing to reintroduce an important bill to protect both patients and their doctors from health insurers’ business practices that only benefit shareholders.
The bill–Patients Before Profits Act–would protect patients from reductions in insurance coverage during public health emergencies.
Specifically, it would prevent insurers from renegotiating contracts or decreasing reimbursement rates for doctors and other health care workers during a pandemic.
In a press release announcing the bill’s reintroduction, Rep. Porter noted that UnitedHealth Group, the country’s biggest health insurer, notified doctors at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic that it would slash their reimbursement by up to 50% or more. I broke that news and noted that United had refused pleas from doctors to at least delay the cuts until after the pandemic.
Rep. Porter quoted me in her press release: “Big Insurance has made record profits during the pandemic, in part by cutting reimbursement to many doctors and making patients pay more out of their own pockets,” said Wendell Potter, a leading insurance reform advocate. “Rep. Porter’s bill will make it illegal for insurers to shortchange doctors to reward shareholders.”
The Patients Before Profits Act is co-led by Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).