In written comments submitted to Congress on March 4, Mercer recommends a number of healthcare policy improvements to expand telehealth and virtual care. Mercer also provided comments in February that suggest ways to control healthcare costs, improve quality, and encourage transparency and innovation. Both sets of comments respond to formal requests for information (RFIs) from the House Republicans’ Healthy Future Task Force, created in June to develop the party’s healthcare policy agenda. Many of the policy themes addressed in lawmakers’ call for comments and Mercer’s responses have bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.
Promoting telehealth. Mercer’s March 4 comments on the RFI from the task force’s Modernization Subcommittee suggest that Congress build on its prior actions to expand access to and use of telehealth services in several ways, including:
Increasing affordability. The Feb. 4 response to the RFI from the task force’s Affordability Subcommittee shares key insights from Mercer’s 2021 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans on how employers are coping with a spike in costs and working to mitigate the impact on employees. The letter also addresses a broad range of issues identified by lawmakers as they consider “legislation that would increase price transparency, lower barriers to competition, and empower consumers to have more choice in their healthcare providers.” Specific issues addressed in Mercer’s comments include:
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