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A broad bipartisan effort to pass legislation protecting patients from massive “surprise” medical bills is now on life support as House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) digs in on a separate proposal. Democratic and Republican leaders of three committees in the House and Senate have been pushing for months to pass their measure, which would prevent Americans from unexpectedly getting hit with medical bills for thousands of dollars for common scenarios like treatment from a doctor outside their insurance network when they require emergency care. (Sullivan, 12/8)

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) introduced legislation on Tuesday aimed at eliminating federal prescribing requirements. Biggs said that the health care industry has been “operating under the nanny-state,” citing the coronavirus pandemic as an area where he feels patients should have more control over their drug choices. (Brufke, 12/8)

Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, spent much of this year promoting investigations into Hunter Biden, trying fruitlessly to show corruption on the part of Joseph R. Biden Jr. Now Mr. Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, is more focused on another narrative sympathetic to President Trump if not to established science: that the reaction to the coronavirus pandemic has been overblown and that public health officials have been too quick to come to conclusions about the best ways to deal with it. (Quiu, 12/8)