By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Administration recently finalized a rule ensuring greater price transparency on medical services and prescription drugs that will enable Americans to make better informed decisions about their health care.
"This is another example of empowering patients," said Congressman Dr. Roger Marshall. "Our health care plan, we want to empower patients with more information. The President is doing something that he and I have been talking about for over three years now. Increased transparency is one of the pillars to driving down the cost of health care. We're going to make sure that patients understand how much they are paying for prescriptions and we're going to make sure that patients understand what their insurance company is paying for services that they've had done, as well. We all see those prices that we don't understand and those bills. We're going to be able to figure out exactly what the insurance companies are paying. It's going to allow us to be better consumers."
The new Executive Order also directed the expansion of health savings accounts and other tax-preferred health accounts.
"Medicare is paying half of what the sticker price is," said Marshall. "Blue Crosses of the world, Aetnas of the world are probably paying about two-thirds of the sticker price, so to speak. I think this is just a step in the right direction, that's going to allow consumers to make better decisions. If you walked into your orthopedic doctor's office and they said, you need your hip replaced and you could see where your doctor goes to have surgery, to do surgery, if you saw the outcomes and the prices and what your out of pocket is going to be, maybe you would make a different choice, as well, but as we know, when one gas station flashes a price, the other gas stations tend to follow it, as well, kind of get into a bidding war. That's the way competition works. That's the way we need to make healthcare, as well."
The requirement for the publicly available data files will take effect for plan or policy years beginning on or after January 1, 2022.