Will doctors and hospitals finally be required to disclose prices? Action Alert!
although an overhaul of Obamacare seems off the table for the time being, a bill has been introduced in the House that includes a much-needed reform.
As we’ve noted previously, there are countless horror stories about patients getting stuck with astronomical hospital bills, including outrageously marked-up band-aids and $1.50 for a single, generic Tylenol tablet. Hospitals can charge vastly different prices, even within the same geographic area. This lack of transparency has helped make America’s hospital system the crony capitalist mess that it is today.
A bill introduced by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) would require hospitals, physicians, pharmacies, dentists, health insurers, and other entities offering healthcare services to disclose the price for their products and services at the point of purchase and on the Internet. This reform will help drive down costs, since hospitals and other entities that gouge consumers will lose out to those charging a fair price. It’s a basic economic principle.
Maybe something’s in the air, given this op-ed calling for the Trump administration to require nonprofit hospitals to post their prices for care in order to retain their tax-exempt status.
Action Alert! Write to your Representative and ask him or her to support HR 2569, the Transparency in All Health Care Pricing Act of 2017. Please send your message immediately.
