House passes bill expanding health coverage for inhalers, blood pressure devices

Americans with a chronic disease could soon have better access to affordable treatment if a bipartisan bill just passed by the U.S. House makes it through the Senate.

The Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act, reintroduced by Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., and Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., expands pre-deductible coverage for 14 chronic disease medical products and services to employees under high-deductible health care plans (HDHPs). The bill also allows the list of medical services to be expanded upon in the future.

The products covered under the bill include beta-blockers for people with congestive heart failure, blood pressure monitors for people with hypertension, glucometers for people with diabetes, inhalers for people with asthma, and cholesterol drugs and testing for people with heart disease.

Roughly 53% of employers offer HDHPs to their employees, and an estimated 129 million people in the US have at least one major chronic disease.

“The Chronic Disease Flexible Coverage Act offers employees more flexibility to manage their chronic diseases, improving patient health while reducing high out-of-pocket costs,” Buchanan said Tuesday. “I’m proud that this legislation passed the House with unanimous bipartisan support, and I look forward to getting this bill signed into law.”

The legislation codifies 2019 policy established during the first Trump administration. A version of the bill passed the House in the 118th Congress, but the Senate never voted on it.

Nearly 90% of the $4.1 trillion the U.S. spends annually on health care goes toward chronic disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made the chronic disease epidemic a major focus of the department.