House passes ‘landmark’ bill to juice healthcare price transparency
Bipartisan legislation intended to lower healthcare costs by lifting price transparency has made it through the U.S. House of Representatives.
If it passes in the Senate, the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act will live up to its name—and its billing as “landmark” legislation—by delivering on a goal supported by 95% of Americans, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) points out in announcing the House passage.
Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) adds that the bill, which cleared its House hurdle Dec. 11, is “a victory for everyone who has ever struggled to navigate and understand the cost of a healthcare procedure or a prescription drug.”
Rodgers and Pallone are, respectively, the chair and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Also championing the House bill were House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) and House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC).
Rodgers’s office states that, if the bill becomes law, the action stands to not only increase price transparency and address the cost of prescription drugs but also to concertedly support patients, healthcare workers, community health centers and hospitals.
It will accomplish the latter aim by “fully paying for expiring programs that strengthen the healthcare system,” according to the announcement.
Discrete items under this aim include:
- Supporting community health centers, which are crucial for patients in rural and underserved areas,
- Supporting training programs for new doctors in communities,
- Preserving Medicaid for hospitals that take care of uninsured and low-income patients, and
- Extending funding for research to find better treatments and a cure for diabetes, which affects more than 37 million Americans.
Smith says that, by requiring healthcare providers to post their prices, the Lower Costs More Transparency Act will “create incentives to lower prices across the board.”
Foxx adds that the bill “builds on the success of the Trump administration’s price transparency rules for plans and hospitals, making PBM (pharmacy benefits management) activities more transparent and ensuring employers have the information they need to make smart choices on behalf of their employees.”
Rodgers urges peers in the Senate to consider the bill “without delay.”
Click here for the announcement, here for the text of the Lower Cost, More Transparency Act and here for a section-by-section breakdown of the bill.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.