White House to Require Hospitals, Insurers to Disclose Actual Healthcare Prices

(WASHINGTON) — New rules from the Trump administration on Friday would require insurers and hospitals to disclose upfront the actual prices for common tests and procedures to promote competition and push down costs. The sweeping changes face stiff pushback from the health care industry and could be challenged in court. Even in an ideal world where information flows freely, patients and their families would have to deal with a learning curve to become comfortable with the intricacies of health care billing. “This shadowy system has to change,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said. “The patient has to be in control.” A final rule would apply to hospitals and a proposed regulation would apply to insurance plans. Disclosure requirements for hospitals would not take effect until 2021; for insurers, the timing is unclear. The requirements do not directly affect doctors. Officials say the rules would shine a spotlight on the confusing maze of health care prices, allowing informed patients to find quality services at the lowest cost. Prices for an MRI scan for example can vary by hundreds of dollars depending on where it’s done. Insurers would have to create individualized estimates of what patients would owe out-of-pocket due to deductibles and copayments. Insurance companies and hospitals say the push for disclosure goes too far. They say the government would force them to publicly disclose rates they negotiate as part of private c...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Healthcare onetime Source Type: news