Civic Register
| 5.8.18
Nobody Knows What Health Care Costs… Until They Get the Bill
Join us and tell your reps how you feel!
The Story
- People are receiving insanely high bills for minor emergency room visits, and there’s no way for anyone to know ahead of time what their treatments will cost.
- Consider the case of Jessica Pell, who received an ice pack and a bandage at the emergency room, for which she was billed a shocking $5,751.
- So many others have had similar experiences that Vox launched its ER database project to collect bills for emergency room visits from 2012 to 2018. Why? Because hospitals keep ER fees secret.
- The problem extends beyond emergency room visits. Across the U.S. health care system, it’s nearly impossible for patients to learn ahead of time what their treatment will cost. Even the Health and Human Services Secretary couldn’t get a straight answer about the cost of a hospital procedure he had several years ago. What hope do the rest of us have?
Debatable Solutions
- The Trump administration is trying to improve transparency in medical pricing, particularly for Medicare patients. HHS is proposing a rule that would require hospitals to publish their standard charges online.
- Some analysts support mandatory price transparency, arguing that it would help consumers to get a handle on skyrocketing health care costs.
- Others oppose it, saying that voluntary price transparency should offer a competitive advantage, public pricing can lead to collusion, and transparency rules can be a barrier to entry for start-ups.
What do you think?
Should the government push for medical pricing transparency? Should health care providers choose how much pricing information they disclose? Hit Take Action, then share your thoughts below.
--Sara E. Murphy
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