U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) introduced a bill on Thursday that seeks to ensure qualified physicians make decisions regarding prior authorization for Medicare and Medicare Advantage services and Part D prescription drug plans.
The bill, called the Reducing Medically Unnecessary Delays in Care Act of 2025, focuses on preventing delays in necessary care due to administrative hurdles by mandating that prior authorization decisions that determine whether Medicare will cover certain health services be made based on medical necessity and appropriateness.
According to Green’s office, the legislation would ensure that patients are not subjected to unnecessary delays when seeking treatments or services covered under Medicare.
Citing the American Medical Association’s 2024 AMA prior authorization physician survey, which showed 94 percent of physicians believed that prior authorization requirements “negatively impacted patient care,” Green said his bill would allow doctors to make “fast, life-saving decisions without a jungle of red tape to cut through.”
“Americans don’t want bureaucrats sitting in on their doctor’s appointments, and they don’t want them to determine their treatment plans. Burdensome regulations keeping patients from accessing life-saving treatment, like colonoscopies, is not only inconvenient but life-threatening. Oftentimes, patients enter into timely and complicated prior authorizations and, through frustration, simply abandon treatment altogether,” Green said.
“As a survivor of both colon and thyroid cancer, I know how critical it is to start treatment as soon as possible. Prior authorization can be a roadblock that costs lives,” Green added.
The 11-page bill, filed in the U.S. House as H.R.2433, is sponsored by Doctor Caucus Co-Chair Representative Greg Murphy, M.D. (R-NC-03), Congressional Democratic Doctors Caucus Co-Chair Representative Kim Schrier, M.D. (D-WA-08), and seven other Republicans.
Green’s bill is also endorsed by 29 medical professional associations.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
