At Bipartisan Health Care Hearing, Senator Hassan Highlights Importance of Protecting Essential Health Benefits and Providing Long-Term Certainty Around Cost-Sharing Reductions

Click here for video of Senator Hassan’s remarks

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Maggie Hassan participated in a bipartisan Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee health care hearing where she highlighted the importance of protecting Essential Health Benefits, which are critical to Granite Staters suffering from substance use disorders, and the need for long-term certainty around funding for cost sharing reductions to foster stability in the health insurance market. Last week, Senator Hassan participated in two HELP Committee hearings where she questioned state insurance commissioners and Governors from across the country about bipartisan solutions to help lower premiums and stabilize the individual market.

As the Senate HELP Committee continues to explore options to lower premiums in the individual market, Senator Hassan highlighted the heroin, fentanyl, and opioid crisis that is devastating communities across New Hampshire and affecting Granite Staters from all walks of life. Senator Hassan emphasized the importance of protecting Essential Health Benefits, which require plans to cover critical services including substance use disorder and mental health treatment. Senator Hassan asked Dr. Bernard J. Tyson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kaiser Foundation Hospitals ­and Health Plan, “Do you agree that as we consider stabilization options, we need to make sure people maintain coverage of these Essential Health Benefits – including the substance use disorder services?” Dr. Tyson replied, “Yes, I agree.”

Senator Hassan also underlined the importance of providing long-term certainty around funding cost-sharing reductions in order to achieve stability in the health insurance market. And Senator Hassan asked Allison Leigh O’Toole, Chief Executive Officer of Minnesota’s state-based health insurance marketplace, about the effect that a 90 percent reduction in funding for advertising and other cuts for navigators would have on market stability. Ms. O’Toole confirmed that it would exacerbate instability in the marketplace.

As part of her efforts to stabilize the health care marketplace and lower health care costs for hard-working Granite Staters, Senator Hassan is an original cosponsor of the Individual Health Insurance Marketplace Improvement Act, which would provide certainty in the marketplace by creating a permanent reinsurance program for the individual health insurance market. Senator Hassan is also an original cosponsor of the Marketplace Certainty Act, which would help stabilize the individual market by providing certainty around cost-sharing reduction payments.