Hospitals Vow To Legally Challenge Trump’s New Transparency Rule That Would Require Them To Disclose Prices
The prices negotiated between hospitals and insurers has long been held in secret, and hospitals say that the rule would hurt competition. “What they’re doing is illegal,” said Tom Nickels, executive vice president of the American Hospital Association.
The Wall Street Journal:
Hospitals Push Back On Price-Disclosure Rule
Hospitals are pushing back against the Trump administration’s new health-pricing disclosure rule, with the industry planning a legal challenge to block it. The final rule, released Friday along with a proposed rule aimed at insurers, would require hospitals to disclose the secret rates they negotiate with insurers for all services, including supplies and care provided by doctors who work for the facility. (Wilde Mathews, 11/20)
In other news on hospital costs —
The Hill:
Critics Seek More Scrutiny On Hospitals In Health Cost Fight
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) often bashes “the drug companies and the insurance companies” as he makes the case for “Medicare for All.” But there’s another major health industry player, also fiercely opposed to Medicare for All, that Sanders usually does not mention: hospitals. Sanders is not alone. In the Medicare for All fight and in the push to lower health care costs in general, hospitals usually fly under the radar. (Sullivan, 11/21)
Kaiser Health News:
‘An Arm And A Leg’: A Medical Bill Ninja Shares Her Secrets
Meredith Balogh has spent years learning to navigate the financial side of the health care system. Balogh, who has Type 1 diabetes, has saved herself and her family many thousands of dollars. She has made a habit — even a hobby — of helping others: people with diabetes, co-workers and strangers on the internet. “There’s only three things that you’re fighting,” she said. “Problems with competence, problems with greed and problems with maliciousness. And, luckily, most things are incompetence.” (Weissmann, 11/21)
