Every day, Americans walk into a hospital with no idea what they will owe when they walk out. In my home state of Kansas, a mammogram costs $70 at one hospital and $800 at another. A hundred million Americans are drowning in medical debt, and we spend $5 trillion a year on a system that still doesn’t tell patients what something costs until the bill arrives.
At the State of the Union, lawmakers heard a call to action from our commander in chief. President Donald Trump put it plainly about his “big health care plan.” “[M]This plan requires maximum price transparency.” He’s right: it’s simple. We have a plan to solve the problem, and now it’s time to seize the moment.
That is exactly what our ‘Patients deserve price tags’ bill was designed for. It ensures that hospitals, surgery centers, imaging centers and laboratories post their real prices – real dollars and cents – before a patient ever walks through the door. No more blank checks. No more guessing. It turns patients into consumers again, and that matters more than people realize.
Healthcare is the only industry in America where we have completely eliminated consumerism – where we have decided that you don’t know the price before you buy something. Every other market in America works the same way: when consumers can shop and suppliers have to compete, prices drop. Every time. There is no reason why healthcare should be any different.
No matter how good medical care is, Americans need price transparency to make health care decisions. (iStock)
The numbers tell the story. Although a federal price transparency rule has been in place for more than four years, only about 15% of hospitals publish prices. At one hospital in Kansas, a cervical spine fusion can cost anywhere from $650 to more than $26,000.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS ADVICE
And most hospitals, about three in four, hide their prices in complicated algorithms that only a contract expert can understand. But this is what happens when you finally show people the prices: they shop. Experts estimate that price transparency would save the average American family between $1 trillion and $1,000 per month.
And here’s what makes this moment truly special: This is not a partisan fight. The Patient Deserve Price Tags Act has 18 Senate cosponsors, both Republicans and Democrats. Patient advocacy groups, employer coalitions and families across the country are behind it. Nine in ten Americans support price transparency, regardless of party. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich said, “If America truly wants to make life affordable again, healthcare transparency is where we need to start.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Washington disagrees on many things these days, but on this we agree. When the White House, Congress and the American people are all pointing in the same direction, there is no excuse for not taking action.
Trump made the call from the biggest stage in America. The legislation has been written. The coalition has been built. All you have to do is finish the job. Don’t let Washington lobbyists stop this any longer. Pass the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act and give Americans what they’ve always deserved: a price tag before the bill.
CLICK HERE TO VAN SEN. ROGER MARSHALL
Related article
