WASHINGTON — The Senate health committee approved a package of bills on Wednesday aimed at lowering the cost of medical care, from ending surprise medical bills to curbing prescription drug price surges, with a rare bipartisan vote that could vault it toward final passage.

Still, even some Democrats who supported the legislation couched it as cold comfort as the Trump administration prepares to argue before a federal appeals court next month that the entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down as unconstitutional.

The cost-cutting legislation is a priority of Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the health committee chairman who will retire next year and is seeking a victory after his plan last year with Senator Patty Murray of Washington to stabilize the Affordable Care Act insurance markets failed.

The new package includes a plan to eliminate surprise medical bills, which have become a hot political cause this year, targeted by President Trump and lawmakers from both parties. It also addresses the rising cost of prescription drugs, with a set of provisions that limit the games pharmaceutical companies can play to protect monopolies on the drugs they sell.