Health care price transparency is one of the few bipartisan issues in Washington, D.C. But much of the information is not helpful to patients, and there's no evidence that it's lowering costs.
Donald Trump's first administration advanced rules forcing hospitals and insurers to reveal prices for medical services. Employers don't want to risk backtracking during Trump's second administration.
The Biden administration wants hospitals to do more to make their prices understandable, so that consumers know in advance what a health care service will cost them.
Since January, hospitals were supposed to be disclosing true prices for their services, as a way to empower patients to shop around. Turns out, compliance is spotty and the data can be hard to find.
Under a rule that kicked in Jan. 1, hospitals must now make public the prices they negotiate with health insurers. But health policy experts have divergent views on what that will mean for patients.
