No other industry, aside from healthcare, keeps its customers in the dark about the costs of products and services before they commit to purchasing them. By fostering transparency in healthcare costs, we can empower patients and take a significant step toward tackling the burdensome expenses of healthcare.
The bipartisan Patients Deserve Price Tags Act (S. 2355), recently introduced by Senators Marshall and Hickenlooper, has garnered support from Consumer Watchdog and other organizations that advocate for transparency in healthcare costs. This vital bill aims to empower patients by requiring hospitals, diagnostic centers, imaging centers, and ambulatory surgical centers to clearly display the prices for each procedure and service they offer. By bringing pricing information to the forefront, we can enhance consumer choice and ensure that patients are also informed financially when making healthcare decisions. Consumer Watchdog’s support letter can be found here.
California’s healthcare system is confronted with significant challenges that extend beyond patient safety. The burden of soaring costs and crippling medical debt weighs heavily on many, while access to affordable, high-quality care remains elusive, particularly for low-income communities. Furthermore, deep-rooted inequities persist within the system, raising urgent concerns about potential hospital closures and the far-reaching effects of federal funding cuts to critical programs like Medi-Cal. Alarmingly, as these federal reductions take effect, some California families are facing the stark reality of losing their Medi-Cal coverage as early as this month.
As families face the loss of Medi-Cal coverage, this bill becomes a lifeline, vital for ensuring continued access to essential healthcare services. Whether or not a family has health insurance, children will always need medical care, and illnesses will arise that demand attention. The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act is designed to enhance hospital pricing by strengthening enforcement and requiring clear pricing in actual dollars and cents, rather than vague estimates. Furthermore, it broadens price transparency beyond the confines of hospitals to encompass other essential healthcare services. With this bill’s passage, families will gain the ability to see service prices upfront, allowing them to budget more effectively for their healthcare expenses. This newfound transparency empowers families to challenge any billing errors that may occur post-service. Ultimately, this bill equips families to make informed choices about the services they genuinely need and can afford, allowing them to take control of their healthcare.
In today’s economy, consumers in California and across the nation are forced to make tough choices about what they can afford. Embracing transparent health care pricing can empower families by illuminating their options and helping them make informed decisions about the services they can access. Moreover, this transparency has the potential to reduce overall healthcare costs by eliminating unnecessary expenditures, ultimately benefiting everyone.
Consumer Watchdog supports the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act as a crucial component of our advocacy efforts to foster transparency in all aspects of healthcare—especially when it comes to costs. Together, we have the power to create a fairer healthcare system that prioritizes affordability, safety, and accessibility for all consumers.
