Washington D.C. — House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) delivered the following opening remarks at today’s subcommittee hearing on the growing cost of health care.

“Today marks our subcommittee’s first hearing of 2024.

“The Health subcommittee is tasked with one of the most important jobs in Congress—overseeing nearly one-fifth of the United States economy.  

“It’s a huge task and demands serious, bipartisan solutions to some of the most pressing challenges. 

“Challenges that have a large impact and are deeply personal for patients and families.  

“That is why today we are continuing the bipartisan work we did in 2023 to bring down the high costs of health care.” 

HEALTH SUBCOMMITTEE’S 2023 SUCCESSES 

“In 2023, we held numerous hearings focused on health care costs. We heard from witnesses representing almost every corner of the health sector, including patient advocates, hospitals, administration witnesses, benefits administrators, life science executives, and academics. 

“Our work culminated in the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, which passed the House in December with more than 300 bipartisan votes. 

“This legislation includes policies that will bring much needed transparency to our health care system and finally put patients in the driver’s seat of their own health care decisions.  

“The legislation will empower patients, providers, and payers by advancing price transparency throughout the biggest components of the health care sector. 

“If enacted, the legislation would codify and strengthen price transparency rules for hospitals and insurance companies. Further, it would expand price transparency for clinical labs, imaging services, and ambulatory surgical centers.” 

HEALTH CARE SPENDING ONLY INCREASES YEAR OVER YEAR 

“The 2022 health care expenditure data from HHS gives us another important opportunity to identify drivers of high costs and continue looking for additional solutions. 

“In 2022, health care spending reached $4.5 trillion and is expected to grow faster than GDP over the next decade. This runaway growth is why we are here: Each year Americans, businesses, and state governments are dedicating greater shares of their budgets on health care. 

“When we look under the hood, we can see how health care spending is allocated, hospitals represented over 30 percent of total spending, physician services represented roughly 20 percent of total spending, and retail prescription drugs represented less than 10 percent of total health care spending. 

“To put a finer point on this, in the private marketplace, the average growth premium growth is expected to reach 5 percent per enrollee between 2024-2034. This comes after Medicaid spending grew by 31 percent between 2019-2022. 

“That means those with employer-sponsored coverage will be left paying more for their health care as a result or see less in take home pay for choosing more comprehensive health care coverage.  

“Or in the case of Medicaid spending, it means state legislators will be forced to make tough decisions between cutting certain health care services for vulnerable patients or other core functions, like educational services.” 

FUTURE APPROACHES 

“This should tell policymakers that it’s time to take a different approach than what we have employed over the past several decades.  

“I think much of the debate has been about subsidies to health insurance companies. I think the verdict is in: Well-intentioned policies to expand access to coverage are missing a key piece of the puzzle.  

“Right now, in the United States, the median household income is $74,580. The average deductible for a benchmark ACA plan in 2024 is $5,241.  

“This means a hardworking individual will, on average, have to spend 7.5 percent of their annual income on health care before their coverage provides meaningful financial protection.

“This is why we have to get costs down across the board.

“To be clear, I am not pointing blame at any specific parts of our system. We need to work across the aisle and with industry stakeholders to better understand the relationship between federal policies and the costs of care.

“I look forward to continuing discussing these issues today and over the course of the next several months.”