Pricing Transparency and HSAs

Pricing Transparency and HSAs

Washington, Feb 17 -

"There needs to be transparency in pricing. Do you realize the medical field is one where you don't do any comparative shopping? There's no transparency in pricing in medicine. You don't know whether the guy next to you is going to offer a better deal when it comes to some kind of medical procedure. It seems to me the more transparency in pricing, the more likely it is consumers will have an input into the cost of health care."

President George W. Bush, Loudon County, Virginia, January 19, 2006

Over the past few years, the health insurance industry has evolved greatly and now provides consumers with more tools to access health insurance. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) alone have more than doubled their enrollment figures in one year, to three million enrollees. Hundreds of thousands of individuals who previously went without insurance are now covered as a result of HSAs. Along with these new tools comes increased demand by consumers for transparency in health care costs. I recently introduced legislation entitled The Hospital and ASC Price Disclosure and Litigation Act (H.R. 4450).

If passed, The Hospital and ASC Price Disclosure and Litigation Act will ensure that patients with HSAs, as well as the uninsured, receive pricing upfront prior to undergoing a hospital procedure. It will also ensure that they have access to the prices charged for comparable services to Medicare patients or patients with standard insurance coverage, and that they are provided a detailed explanation of the costs incurred after undergoing the procedure. In addition, hospitals that choose to participate in this program will be required to provide consumers an up-to-date list of prices for their top procedures twice each year via a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.

http://sessions.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=39661