Promoting price transparency in health care has been tried for over a decade, and it’s not uncommon for the private sector to beat state policymakers to the punch. Back in March, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) released its publicly accessible cost estimator tool for anyone interested in obtaining average cost information for the most common surgeries and procedures.
State lawmakers have attempted to push for more price transparency when it passed the Health Care Cost Reduction and Price Transparency Act in 2013. Unfortunately, this statute has not been enforced as intended.
Nevertheless, lawmakers have reinstated this transparency measure within the latest budget bill that’s still hot off the press. The language states that the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will post on its website total charges and reimbursement data submitted by hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) for their most popular inpatient, surgical, and imaging services:
Let’s hope that this policy leverages a stronger health care price transparency race – especially now that Obamacare’s pricey regulations are driving employers to either push more benefit cost sharing onto employees or release them to find coverage from a plethora of high deductible health plans in the individual marketplace.
