Washington — James Gelfand, President and CEO of The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
Gelfand’s testimony highlighted how large employers are turning to direct contracting arrangements to rein in costs that show no sign of slowing. Premiums for employer-sponsored plans are climbing faster than the economy is growing, even as employer coverage remains the backbone of the American health care system, covering more than 154 million people nationwide, including over 100 million through ERISA self-insured plans.
ERIC member companies are already seeing results from arrangements like accountable care organizations, direct primary care, and centers of excellence, including measurable cost savings, improved health outcomes, and greater transparency into health care spending — but regulatory and administrative barriers continue to make these models difficult to establish and scale, particularly for employers with a geographically dispersed workforce.
“Direct contracting works because it cuts out unnecessary costs and connects patients with the right care, faster,” said James Gelfand, President and CEO of ERIC. “Our member companies are proving every day that when the right situation arises for an employer to negotiate directly with providers, employees get better access, better outcomes, and lower costs. But too many barriers still stand in the way of scaling these models. Large employers share Congress’s goal of making health care more affordable, and ERIC stands ready to work hand-in-hand with Congress to advance pragmatic solutions to drive health care affordability across the finish line for working families.”
In his testimony, Gelfand reiterated ERIC’s support for legislation under the Subcommittee’s jurisdiction, including:
- The PBM Fiduciary Accountability, Integrity, and Reform (FAIR) Act (H.R. 6837), a bill to hold pharmacy benefit managers to ERISA fiduciary standards;
- The Healthy Competition for Better Care Act (H.R. 6248), a bill to improve fairness in provider contracting and curb inflated site-of-care pricing;
- The Health Data Access, Transparency, and Affordability (Health DATA) Act of 2026 (H.R. 9228), a bill to improve employers’ access to claims data, which ERIC applauded the Committee for advancing; and
- Further reforms to RFP transparency and vertically integrated group purchasing organizations (GPOs) to ensure employers can access accurate, comparable cost data.
Gelfand’s full written testimony is available here.