Congressmen File Bill to Force Hospitals to Share Prices with Patients Pre-Treatment

Two Texas congressmen from both sides of the aisle have filed a bill that will require hospitals to make public their prices to patients.

U.S. Congressmen Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-Texas) and Gene Green (D-Texas)  introduced H.R. 1326, the Health Care Price Transparency Promotion Act of 2013, last week. The bill proposes “to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to provide for increased price transparency of hospital information and to provide for additional research on consumer information on charges and out-of-pocket costs.”

If passed into law, “patients could review their options with up-front information about the costs of a medical procedure and other expenses in health care services,” said Rep. Burgess, who is a doctor and in Congress serves as vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health and co-chair of the Congressional Health Caucus. “A patient should be able to know what they are buying and how much they will pay out-of-pocket.  Arming patients with cost information is an important step in improving our country’s health care system with the focus on the patient.”

According to the press release on the bill, “the Health Care Price Transparency Promotion Act directs the states to establish and maintain laws requiring disclosure of information on hospital charges. Additionally, the bill requires hospitals and health plans to make such information available to the public, and to provide individuals with information about estimated out-of-pocket costs for health care services. ”

Escalating healthcare costs have made this bill a necessity, Rep. Green wrote in the statement. “Our current health care system needs to be reformed. Unfortunately, with all of the bureaucracy and paperwork, few people including patients and physicians know where money is going. This makes it hard to identify the base problem and begin to help curb increasing health care costs.”

The American Hospital Association endorsed the proposed legislation, according to the congressmen.