Trump issues executive order to bring transparency to health care prices
Source: The Hill
BY JESSIE HELLMANN - 06/24/19 10:00 AM EDT
The Trump administration is working on regulations that will require health care providers and insurers to tell patients how much a service will cost before they get it.
The rules aim to bring more transparency to a health care system where patients usually dont find out how much a procedure costs until they get the bill in the mail.
This will go down as one of the most significant steps in the long history of American health care reform, said Alex Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
President Trump, in an executive order issued Monday, directed HHS and other agencies to put out rules requiring hospitals disclose prices that reflect what patients and insurers actually pay for services, Azar told reporters.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/449994-trump-issues-executive-order-to-bring-transparency-to-health-care-prices
pecosbob
(7,502 posts)Once again The Hill provides comedy relief.
Traildogbob
(8,572 posts)This will only allow people to say I can not afford that care so I will just die and not bankrupt my family. The only benefit is to health care providers to not lose money doing procedures that will not be paid for. Fuck Alec Azar, most significant step in history my ass. Follow the damn money as with anything from comrad tRump.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)Onion . . .
Bayard
(21,805 posts)Are the uninsured. Keeps people from going to the hospital/doctor.
You want to do something, tRump? Try healthcare for all.
metalbot
(1,058 posts)...and I'm certainly not uninsured. I have a high deductible, which I'm lucky enough to be able to cover, but it's ridiculously frustrating that most doctors offices can't tell me how much a procedure is going to cost.
This may be the broken clock effect (it's right twice a day), but I'll be really happy if this is implemented.
not fooled
(5,791 posts)The Market will save us!!!
yeah, right and how's that gonna work when you are brought into the emergency room and are unable to read the price list?
But now pukes gonna say it's your own damn fault if you don't shop around.
moreland01
(735 posts)Unless this is another edict that he changes his mind on in 10 minutes, I actually like this.
I am low income and buy my health insurance on the Colorado ACA exchange (Connect for Health Colorado). While my costs are covered substantially by the federal subsidy for low income folks, I still want to know what procedures are going to cost BEFORE I have them. I'm still responsible for a portion of the costs and I need to know what those are going to be.
I know what virtually everything else in my life is going to cost (Dental, car repairs, home repairs, etc.) before I sign on. But healthcare costs are the huge, unreliable, budget busting GOTCHA in my life. I may still need the procedure regardless of what my costs are going to be, but I still need to know.
greatauntoftriplets
(175,695 posts)They're way ahead of you, Spanky!
duforsure
(11,882 posts)Because he'll have loopholes , and things for them to use and not really do this , but it won't be known until after 2020 is my guess . Or they may be taking all health care away and making it for only people with their health care trash can policies, and for no one else. This is just another staged pr event for him to con people out of their votes again. Nothing more from this serial liar. He never delivers on anything he promises or claims he'll do . Remember Mexico will pay for the wall, and many , many other instances he's done this. He's done this to bankers, farmers, auto workers, coal miners, businesses, other politicians, and many others.
AKing
(511 posts)SunSeeker
(51,367 posts)The way to help people pay for care and drugs is to expand Medicaid and Medicare, and strengthen the ACA. But Trump has done the opposite.
moose65
(3,164 posts)On the one hand, it seems like a great idea. However, it seems to me that hospitals charge different prices, depending on whether you can pay up front in cash. Even the amount billed to insurance can be different, if you're "out of network."
I had my gall bladder removed in January, and during the entire time I was in the hospital, no one ever mentioned how much anything would cost, and at that time I really didn't care! I was in so much pain that all I wanted was for them to get it out of me. Anyway, when I got my explanation of benefits afterwards, the total cost was something like $54,000 (I also had pancreatitis, so I was in the hospital for 5 days). But then, since I am a state employee with state insurance, the price was "discounted" by $28,000 and my insurance paid a little over $20,000. Also I met my out-of-pocket maximum for the whole year, so I ended up paying $4,800 total out of pocket. So I wonder which number would be told to me under these new rules??
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Now for the implementation.