The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee advanced 15 healthcare bills to the full committee during its June 25^th bill markup, including measures focused on price transparency, prior authorization, Medicare Advantage oversight, community health centers and substance use policy. Members largely framed the package as a bipartisan step toward improving affordability and access, while acknowledging that several provisions may need additional work before full committee consideration. Key highlights include:

• Price transparency: The subcommittee advanced the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act of 2026, which would codify and expand federal price transparency requirements for hospitals, insurers and other sites of care such as Ambulatory Surgical Centers. Related bills would require additional transparency around premium spending, consumer-facing price information. One bill would require the posting of self-pay prices for certain on the walls of facilities.
• Prior authorization: Members approved bills requiring more public reporting on prior authorization practices, including approval and denial rates, appeals outcomes, timelines and the use of AI or other decision-support technology. The subcommittee also advanced the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act, a bill supported by AHPA that would modernize Medicare Advantage prior authorization by codifying existing CMS regulations but would go further by also prohibiting retroactive denials.
• Medicare Advantage oversight: Several bills focused on MA plan transparency, including reporting on encounter data, supplemental benefit utilization and broker or agent compensation. Lawmakers raised concerns that policymakers still lack enough information to evaluate how MA plans spend taxpayer dollars, how supplemental benefits are used and whether broker incentives may steer beneficiaries toward particular plans.
• Unfinished issues: Lawmakers raised ownership transparency, itemized billing, explanation-of-benefits clarity and vision benefit manager reforms, but those issues were left for continued work before full committee.
• Other health policy items: The package also included bills addressing community health center services, nutrition education, fentanyl and xylazine test strips, opioid overdose reversal drugs in schools, and controlled substance scheduling.