Sens. Braun, Enzi, Ernst, Grassley, Kennedy and Loeffler Introduce Healthcare PRICE Transparency Act
In a move to empower patients and lower healthcare costs, Senator
This legislation would codify the two health care price transparency rules that came out of President
Last November, the
There will be continued legal challenges brought by hospital and insurance lobbies to keep their prices and negotiated rates secret until after patients get care.
Continued legal challenges will likely be brought by hospital and insurance lobbies to keep their prices and negotiated rates secret until after patients get care.
The Health Care PRICE Transparency Act would effectively codify these rules and overcome the court challenges.
"As a Main Street Entrepreneur who provided quality healthcare to my employees, this legislation will give Americans the chance to see the true costs of their healthcare visits, which will increase competition and lower healthcare costs," said
"Americans often leave their health care visits frustrated not knowing what price to expect on the bill," said
"Every year on my 99 County Tour across
"An extra dose of transparency will bring more accountability and competition to the health care industry. It's time for Americans to have more financial information available to them when going to the hospital and working with their insurance companies. I applaud
"Louisianans should be able to find out what the real price of their health care is. This bill creates transparency so that patients finally have access to pricing information that has been out of reach for far too long," said
"Now more than ever, we need transparency in our health care system," said
BACKGROUND
Pursuant to the Improving Price and Quality Transparency in
Codifying the Administration's Health Care Price Transparency Rules Would:
* Ensure that the rules are implemented--to the benefit of consumers.
* Empower Americans to shop for healthcare and coverage, creating a competitive, functional market.
* Reduce the cost of care and coverage, saving individuals and businesses hundreds of billions of dollars and creating a vital economic stimulus.
The Health Care PRICE Transparency Act Would Require Hospitals tp:
* Provide patients with clear, accessible information about their "standard charges" for the items and services they provide, including through the use of standardized data elements, making it easier to shop and compare across hospitals, as well as mitigating surprises.
* Make public all hospital standard charges (including the gross charges, negotiated rates and charges, the amount the hospital is willing to accept in cash from a patient) for all items and services on the Internet in a single data file that can be read by other computer systems (i.e., machine readable format).
* Make public negotiated rates and charges, cash prices, etc. in a manner that is consumer-friendly and up-to-date.
The Health Care PRICE Transparency Act Would Require Insurers to:
* Give consumers real-time, personalized access to cost-sharing information--including an estimate of their cost-sharing liability for all covered healthcare items and services.
* Publish this information online and available to all of their beneficiaries, and in paper form, at the beneficiaries' request--empowering consumers to shop and compare costs between specific providers before receiving care.
* Disclose on a public website their negotiated rates for in-network providers and allowed amounts paid for out-of-network providers.
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