Blog

You’ve probably heard a lot about the Senate’s lack of movement on the SAVE America Act. But while that legislation remains stalled, senators are thankfully moving full steam ahead on healthcare price transparency.

The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act recently advanced out of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in a nearly unanimous bipartisan vote of 21-1. The bill would require hospitals, insurers, and other medical providers to list real costs for services, close loopholes, increase enforcement, and prohibit debt collection by noncompliant providers. If passed, it would transform the American healthcare market for the better. 

Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, the American Hospital Association (AHA)—the nation’s largest hospital trade association—opposes the bill. In a recent statement, the group claims to support price transparency but raised several objections to the legislation, including concerns that it would increase the administrative burden on hospitals. Despite claims to support transparency, the AHA is opposing legislation that would strengthen transparency requirements and enforcement. 

President Trump has already done his part to confront resistance from the healthcare industry by signing an executive order directing providers to reveal exact prices, expanding reporting requirements, and putting the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury in charge of compliance. On top of that, the administration has aggressively targeted healthcare fraud, arresting hundreds of fraudsters and intercepting billions of dollars in fraudulent payments.

Still, many medical providers have dragged their feet on listing prices and looked for any possible loopholes to avoid doing so. The industry has gotten used to hiding prices and sending surprise bills, then aggressively collecting on debts. 

The problems with our healthcare system are complex, and price transparency alone won’t solve all of them. But mandating and enforcing real price transparency will inject information and competition into healthcare, allowing market forces to operate. The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act will improve care for millions of Americans while respecting their right to know what things actually cost. The Senate should bring this much-needed legislation to a floor vote as soon as possible.