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H.R. 6248119th CongressIn committeeLatest action Nov 21, 2025Decoded by AI · checked against the record
Official title: Healthy Competition for Better Care Act
Introduced:
Read the official bill on Congress.govThe plain-language version leads. The official text is always the reference.
This bill would ban contract terms that stop health plans from shopping around for lower-cost or higher-quality care providers.
50-second read · 4 questions answered below
This bill would make certain contract clauses illegal in health care and insurance agreements. Banned clauses include ones that block insurers from steering patients to cheaper or better providers, force plans to use a provider's affiliated facilities, set prices for those facilities, or stop other plans from negotiating lower prices. Some exceptions apply for HMOs with exclusive physician groups and certain value-based care networks like accountable care organizations or centers of excellence.
The rules would apply to insurance companies, employer-sponsored health plans, hospitals, doctor networks, and third-party administrators. Federal agencies would have one year to write the detailed rules, and the requirements would cover contracts signed, changed, or renewed starting 18 months after the law passes.
Without these contract restrictions, health plans may have less freedom to direct patients toward lower-cost or higher-quality providers. The bill changes what employers and insurers can legally agree to when they sign contracts with health care providers.
AI-drafted summary. Verify it against the official text before you act on it. Read the official bill on Congress.gov
Right now: a House committee is reviewing it. If the Senate changes it, it goes back to the House before reaching the President.
Latest action: — Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Education and Workforce, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.