Legislation Comparison Grid Template
Legislation Testimony/Advocacy Statement
Modern people are exposed to the impact of various factors that deteriorate individual health. In addition to that, healthcare costs are a significant barrier for US citizens to access medical services. It is so because people refrain from going to the hospital because they are afraid of getting surprise medical bills. That is why it is necessary to pass the S.1895 Lower Health Care Costs Act to make the population healthier and contribute to more accessible medicine.
The proposed legislation addresses the challenges above because it attempts to make the healthcare industry more transparent. It is useful for individuals when they are given a list of provided services and 45 days to pay for them. This fact eliminates any concerns that medical establishments or practitioners can charge more than they have provided. However, the bill also witnesses a portion of criticism because of two aspects. Firstly, the proposed legislation is opposed because it insists on the necessity to support vaccination. Secondly, the bill is criticized because it mentions that biological medicines do not need to meet quality standards.
The information above stipulates that it is reasonable to address this criticism to make the bill passed. On the one hand, it is rational to use statistics to demonstrate the benefits of vaccination. For example, UNICEF (2019) stipulates that the number of deaths from measles “declined by 80 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2017” (para. 1). This information is a valid argument to show that increased vaccination rates will make the US population healthier. On the other hand, the claim concerning the quality standards of biological medicines seems justified. It is so because when they are not subject to these standards, the population’s health is endangered. Thus, to have the bill passed, it is reasonable to amend it by excluding the information about the fact that biological medicines should not be subject to quality standards.
References
Congress.gov. (2019). S.1895 – Lower Health Care Costs Act. Web.
Public Citizen. (2019). Letter to Congress opposing Section 2017 of S.1895, the Lower Health Care Costs Act. Web.
UNICEF. (2019). Immunization. Web.