The Trump administration wants you to know how much your medical procedures will cost - and hospitals are up in arms
Advertisement
Trending News
Advertisement
The Trump administration just made a big step toward letting patients know how much their procedure at a particular hospital will cost them.
On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services said it's proposing a rule that would require hospitals to disclose the prices they negotiate with every insurer for services and procedures."We're taking a big step today to ensure that we're empowering patients with the information they need to make informed healthcare decisions," she said.
In particular, the rule would make public both the list prices set by hospitals, and the prices hospitals negotiate with insurance companies for particular procedures, information that's typically secret and can vary widely.Hospitals said they're opposed to the proposal.
"Mandating the disclosure of negotiated rates between insurers and hospitals is the wrong approach," Rick Pollack, president of the American Hospital Association, the lobbying group that represents hospitals said in a statement Monday.
He said that the move could limit the choices patients have and lead to anticompetitive behavior from health insurance plans."While we support transparency, today's proposal misses the mark, exceeds the Administration's legal authority and should be abandoned," he said.
Health plans, for their part, aren't fans of the proposed rule either.
Matt Eyles, the president of America's Health Insurance Plans, the lobbying group that represents health insurers, disagreed with the course of action in a statement Monday. He said it could raise costs for patients.Matt Borsch, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, said that while early, the rule could be bad for both hospitals and health insurers. But if it were to be implemented, it could drastically change the healthcare market.
"We think true rate transparency could have wide-ranging 'game changer' impacts," Borsch said in a note Monday.It could mean that hospitals that charge more could feel pressure to lower their prices, while hospitals with lower prices could stand to benefit from the proposed rule.
Copyright © 2021. Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.For reprint rights. Times Syndication Service.
Next