U.S. Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) on July 20 introduced legislation to provide for hospital and insurer price transparency to better serve patients.
“This legislation will give patients and families a clearer picture of the costs of procedures at hospitals, allowing them to make better health care choices,” Rep. Flores said. “Healthcare is almost the only sector where there is no price transparency for consumers. We need to modernize this weakness to match the rest of our 21st-century economy.”
Rep. Flores sponsored the Health Care Prices Revealed and Information to Consumers Explained (PRICE) Transparency Act, H.R. 7676, with seven Republican cosponsors to codify the Trump administration’s Health Care Price Transparency Rule, which was published last year to increase price transparency, empower patients and spur competition, according to information provided by the congressman’s office.
Rep. Flores’ bill is identical to S. 4106, legislation introduced in June by U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) and eight GOP cosponsors, including U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), that would ensure those regulations cannot be changed by future administrations.
Additionally, the measure would make public all hospital prices, including list prices, prices for insured patients and the amount the hospital will accept in cash from a patient, according to Rep. Flores’ bill summary, and would ensure the information provided to customers is presented in a consumer-friendly and timely format that is published online.
“While some hospitals assert that price lists can be confusing for patients, I believe that making this information accessible is a big step in the right direction,” said Rep. Flores. “Healthcare price transparency will allow patients to have better information and it will help facilitate lower healthcare costs.”