Employers Still Struggle to Access Insurers’ Health Cost Data

Health plan sponsors continue to argue that insurers are hiding valuable cost information from them despite a federal mandate against contract provisions limiting access to such data.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (H.R. 133) required employer- and union-sponsored health plans—as well as health insurance companies—to attest by the end of 2023 that their plan agreements don’t contain “gag clauses” that put restrictions on providing information about the cost or quality of medical services.

“The vast majority of insurers and third party administrators attested for their group health plan clients,” between Dec. 27, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2023, ...