As the 119th Congress gavels in for its second session, it does so on the heels of a banner year for healthcare reform. In 2025, policymakers delivered meaningful progress, strengthening the guardrails around consumer health and affordability. These bipartisan efforts are successfully targeting areas of the healthcare system ripe for improvement, setting a critical precedent for the work that lies ahead.
The following protections enacted over the past year are a testament to this commitment. The PBM Price Transparency and Accountability Act, a vital piece of legislation, directly addresses the broken healthcare market by introducing transparency into the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) market. It stops PBMs from increasing patient out-of-pocket costs to boost their bottom lines, instead aligning incentives to ensure that patients receive the best possible prices. This accountability is a major win for patient affordability.
Next, the Health Resources and Services Administration 340B Pilot Program’s significant reforms remove critical access barriers for lower-income patients, ensuring that safety-net providers can better leverage drug discounts to serve vulnerable communities.
Finally, the momentum behind the reintroduction of the HELP Copays Count Act, which requires PBMs and insurance companies to count the value of copay assistance they provide on a patient’s behalf toward cost-sharing requirements, sent a strong message to end practices that unfairly burden the chronically ill.
These actions demonstrate a mandate from the American public: lawmakers must prioritize patient safety and affordability through the integrity of services and products. While 2025 legislative actions were commendable, as we look at the 2026 legislative agenda, there is a glaring hole in the public health defense that Congress has yet to plug. The collective “wish list” for this year must be topped by comprehensive reform of deceptive lawyer advertising.
These advertisements are not merely a nuisance; they constitute a major source of misinformation and present a genuine public health risk. Funded by a staggering $2.5 billion spent on 26.9 million ads in 2024, these campaigns often feature vague warnings or sensational claims urging viewers to seek “financial compensation” after using a medication or product — even if they have never actually used it.
The consequences of this unfettered misinformation are multifaceted, including fueling public health crises, eroding consumer trust, and stifling innovation and economic harm.
First, these commercials allow lawyers to “play” doctors and present junk science as fact. With lawyers acting as pseudo-medical advisers, they influence vulnerable patients and consumers to stop taking medications out of fear, often before consulting their doctor.
Second, these sensationalized claims exploit consumers’ growing anxiety about product safety, leaving them unsure of what to trust and making it harder for reputable companies to communicate accurate information.
Third, the deluge of often meritless litigation fueled by these ads creates a chilling effect on innovation. Companies hesitate to develop and expand products because they fear being targeted by frivolous lawsuits designed to pad the pockets of plaintiff lawyers. Massive, excessive verdicts driven by baseless claims ultimately drive up costs for consumers across the entire economy through higher prices for goods and services.
The message from patients and consumers is undeniable: nearly half of those surveyed support reforms to lawyer advertising, and in another poll, the overwhelming majority support adding clear disclaimers to these ads. Congress must now step up to the plate to protect the integrity of the information that patients consume.
For 2026, the legislative priority must be passing robust, enforceable standards that mandate clear disclaimers that require easy-to-understand disclosures stating that the ad is a solicitation for legal services, not medical advice; a verification of claims that must be supported by scientific evidence that doesn’t contradict FDA guidance; and a prohibition of ads that urge consumers to call a law firm unless they have demonstrably used the product of medication in question. Lawmakers must prioritize patient safety over lawyer profits and implement strong legal advertising reforms to prevent more vulnerable Americans from being exploited.