Senators advance healthcare price transparency bill

A bipartisan committee of senators advanced legislation on Wednesday that would require hospitals and insurance companies to display prices for provided services. Senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, in a 21-1 vote, advanced the legislation to be considered on the Senate floor. Sen. Paul Rand, R-Ky., voted against the bill and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, did not vote. The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, sponsored by Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and John Hickenlooper, D-Co., is similar to President Donald Trump's executive actions aimed at mandating price transparency in hospitals and insurance companies. The bill would require hospitals to publicly report negotiated rates, costs and cash prices for ambulatory services, surgery centers, imaging labs and clinical labs. Marshall estimated the passage of the bill would reduce healthcare costs for families by as much as $1,000 per month. He said the legislation would empower patients to compare prices among various hospital services. "Once and for all, we'll force transparency and competition into healthcare," Marshall said. "It's going to force healthcare providers to show you the price tag up front, not an estimate." Paul said he voted against the legislation because it does not address fixed prices for healthcare operations. He said individuals on Medicare and Medicaid will not have a meaningful change to their prices just because they are transparent. "There's only a very small amount of this market that cares about this and these people don't have insurance," Paul said. "When you mandate transparency on prices that are fixed, [it] doesn't change the situation." Paul urged other lawmakers to advance legislation that allows patients to have greater variability in their prices. He pointed out that nearly half the country's population is on Medicare and they need more flexibility in the cost of services. Functionally, the bill would require the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to collect a monthly report of each hospital's standard charges. The secretary would be required to establish a format for hospitals to compile and make public standard charges. The bill also guarantees group health plans have access to claims data and prevents third parties from restricting access to the claims data for patients. "The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act would replace healthcare's blank checks with actual prices, empowering patients and employers to compare options, avoid the risk of surprise bills and reap the benefits of competition found elsewhere across the economy," Parents Rights Advocate Chairman Cynthia Fisher said in a statement provided to The Center Square. "At a time when health insurers are planning massive premium increases, this bipartisan legislation will expose for the first time how exactly they set their prices." Hickenlooper said the healthcare industry has turned into an "aggregated monopoly" because it is not required to display prices. He estimated more than 180 million Americans are affected by a lack of healthcare price transparency. "The gaming and confusion in our healthcare system drives people crazy and we can put a stop to it," Hickenlooper said. "The lack of transparency in our healthcare system is the proverbial elephant in the room." Hickenlooper pointed out that large companies providing healthcare for employees often are unaware of costs associated with their care. "We need to ensure that Americans can seek medical care without the risk of being bankrupt," Hickenlooper said. Former Speaker of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich said in a statement provided to The Center Square that, "There has been a lot of movement toward transparency in price and quality, but it has been fought tenaciously by hospital and insurance company interests who are deeply opposed to people knowing the real price of treatments and services... Their new highly deceptive strategy is to create opaque transparency. They will not tell you real prices, but they will give you a range within which prices might occur. "Take this model and apply it to your next visit to McDonald's. Imagine you ask for a quarter pounder with cheese, and the cashier explains that he can't give you the actual price — but he can give you a range between, $2 and $11," Gingrich added. "If you will consent to an open-ended charge on your credit card, at some point in the next 60 days corporate will figure it out and charge it to your account. I'm betting you wouldn't buy that burger." The bill will move forward for full consideration on the Senate floor, where it can either be taken up or declined. The bill must be passed by the Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives by Jan. 3, 2027, to be brought into law.