Today, United States District Judge Carl Nichols ruled in favor of the Trump Administration to make the negotiated rates between hospitals and insurers transparent.
“This is an important ruling and a great step toward making the healthcare industry less opaque by requiring that they post the real prices for patients to see,” said David Balat, director of the Right on Healthcare initiative at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Nine in 10 Americans are in favor of seeing the real prices and this ruling is a great step in making healthcare more affordable for all.”
In June, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services to require “hospitals to publicly post standard charge information, including charges and information based on negotiated rates and for common or shoppable items and services,” in easy-to-understand formats so as to inform patients about actual prices.”
In December 2019, the American Heart Association joined by three other national organizations representing hospitals and health systems sued the federal government in federal district court, challenging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ final rule mandating that hospitals disclose their privately negotiated rates with commercial health insurers.