Addressing Rising Healthcare Costs is Focus of Missouri Hospital Association Meeting with McCaskill
Senator, representatives from the Missouri Hospital Association discuss ways to lower healthcare costs and increase access to affordable care
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today met with hospital executives and representatives from the Missouri Hospital Association to discuss efforts to address rising healthcare and prescription drug costs and ensure Missourians have access to affordable healthcare.
“I’ve been hard at work to tackle one of the toughest issues facing our state: how to make quality, affordable health care a reality for every Missourian,” McCaskill said. “It’s essential for me to hear from the people who are working on the ground—and I’m committed to working with folks like the Missouri Hospital Association on solutions to bring down the cost of care in Missouri.”
Click HERE for more photos of the meeting.
Continuing her work to address the rising healthcare costs facing Missourians, McCaskill held roundtable discussions in Columbia and St. Louis last week with doctors, patient advocates, and community partners, focused on the rising costs of prescription drugs, emergency room care, and insurance premiums.
McCaskill has made tackling rising healthcare and prescription drug costs a top priority in the Senate. She has called for a full review of the actions by health insurer Anthem to deny emergency room coverage for Missourians’ care that is deemed non-emergent—a potential violation of consumers’ rights and federal law, and began demanding answers from Anthem last year after the insurance company announced it would no longer cover emergency room costs for Missourians if that care is deemed non-emergent.
Following recent reports of families left with tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills from air ambulance services after a traumatic injury, McCaskill demanded answers from the leading insurance providers and air ambulance companies in Missouri.
McCaskill recently released a report that found that prices of many of the most popular brand-name drugs for seniors are increasing at ten times the cost of inflation. Additionally, McCaskill introduced a bipartisan bill to prohibit “pharmacy gag clauses” that lead to consumers needlessly overpaying for prescription drugs, and last year, President Trump signed into law her bipartisan legislation to increase competition for generic drugs and help lower prescription costs.
Visit mccaskill.senate.gov/
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