WASHINGTON, DC – January 22, 2026 – The Partnership for Employer-Sponsored Coverage (P4ESC) commends Congress for releasing the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, which includes meaningful policies to lower health care costs for employers and working families. This legislative package increases transparency, stops dishonest hospital billing practices, revives important reforms to pharmacy benefit managers, improves access to generic drugs, and lowers premiums for Americans with private health insurance.
Employer-sponsored health insurance remains the foundation of health care for more than 165 million Americans. Reducing the cost of care and bringing transparency to a vertically integrated and consolidated market is essential to sustaining this system. P4ESC welcomes the inclusion of targeted provisions that strengthen the commercial health care market and allow employers to be better stewards of health care dollars by ensuring prescription drug savings are used to lower costs for workers and families.
“These policies represent a measured and thoughtful approach to addressing market failures that have long prevented employers from securing the best possible coverage for patients at the lowest cost,” said Taylor Hittle, Executive Director of P4ESC. “Many of these reforms have been debated and refined by Congress for nearly a decade and are ready for primetime. They will deliver meaningful improvements to our health care system by addressing consolidation, hidden fees, dishonest billing practices, and a lack of accountability, which have allowed certain entities to run away with outsized profits while driving unchecked cost growth. These reforms are a necessary check on those costly business practices.”
P4ESC Chair Melissa Bartlett, Senior Vice President of Health Policy for The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), added, “Effective, market-based solutions are critical to supporting employer-sponsored coverage and expanding financial stability for workers and families nationwide. These legislative reforms provide Congress with a timely opportunity to make affordability a reality. P4ESC urges both the House and the Senate to quickly bring this policy to a vote and to preserve the integrity of these meaningful reforms throughout the legislative process.”
P4ESC is a coalition of employment-based organizations and trade associations representing businesses of all sizes and sectors, and the millions of Americans and their families who rely on employer-sponsored coverage every day. Employer-sponsored coverage has been the backbone of our nation’s health care system for nearly eight decades and is the single largest source of coverage. https://www.p4esc.org
