One of our top policy projects at UP is requiring price transparencies at all hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and insurance companies so patients actually know what services cost. The House Ways and Means Committee took a big step towards price transparency yesterday with the passage of H.R. 9645, the “Health Care Price Certainty for All Americans Act.”

Chairman Jason Smith made the case well:

“The insurance company knows the price. The middleman knows the price. The only person who doesn’t is the patient getting stuck with an unexpectedly high bill months after a procedure…

“In his first term, President Trump made hospitals and insurers post their prices. Then the last Administration slow-walked enforcement and looked the other way while hospitals and insurers failed to live up to their commitments to be more open and honest with patients. My legislation codifies and strengthens President Trump’s rules to hold hospitals and insurance companies accountable for delivering transparency to patients.”

The Senate HELP Committee is expected to consider a similar bill from Senator Roger Marshall next week.

As UP’s Moore and Kerpen argue, the hospitals fighting tooth and nail against transparency should reconsider because the momentum building in the states is for outright price controls, which could leave all of us – and especially them – worse off.