Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Insurers Must Reveal Prices Under Rule Finalized By HHS
The Hill: New Trump Policy Will Force Insurers To Disclose Prices Up Front
Health insurers will be required to publicly post, in advance, the price for the most common services and procedures, under a rule finalized by the Trump administration on Thursday. The final rule is an effort to inject transparency into the opaque health care sector, and comes less than a week before the culmination of a campaign in which President Trump has been hammered on health care by Democratic nominee Joe Biden for his efforts to overturn ObamaCare and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (Weixel, 10/29)
Stat: New Trump Rule Forces Insurers To Disclose Prices, Including For Drugs
The move represents a dramatic change to the health care marketplace, and likely will result in significant added transparency between competing industry groups and, to an extent, for patients. (Facher, 10/29)
Modern Healthcare: CMS Finalizes Insurer Transparency Rule
The Transparency in Coverage rule will force employer health plans and insurance companies to post in-network and out-of-network rates they negotiate with providers. It also requires insurers to develop online price transparency tools to give patients cost-sharing information. Insurers and hospital groups and even some experts argued it would confuse patients and do little to lower costs. "Disclosing privately negotiated rates will reduce incentives to offer lower rates, creating a floor—not a ceiling—for the prices that drug makers, providers and device makers would be willing to accept," America's Health Insurance Plans CEO Matt Eyles said in a statement. (Brady, 10/29)
In related news about medical costs —
Detroit Free Press: Surprise Out-Of-Network Medical Bills Now Illegal In Michigan
The laws forbid medical providers from sending big surprise bills to patients who received emergency care outside of their insurance network, a practice known as balance billing. For those receiving care for non-emergencies, an out-of-network provider must send the patient a disclosure form at least 14 days before the scheduled medical service. The form must explain how his or her insurance company may not cover all services and that they would be personally responsible for any uncovered costs. (Reindl, 10/30)
KHN: A $200 Debit Card Won’t Do Much For Seniors’ Drug Costs
If they’ve been listening to President Donald Trump, seniors may be expecting a $200 debit card in the mail any day now to help them pay for prescription drugs. He promised as much this month, saying his administration soon will mail the drug cards to more than 35 million Medicare beneficiaries. But the cards — if they are ever sent — would be of little help. Policy experts say that what Medicare beneficiaries really need, as well as younger Americans, are sweeping federal changes to close the gap between what their health insurance pays and what drugs cost them. (Meyer, 10/30)
KHN and Politifact: A $10,000 Obamacare Penalty? Doubtful.
A viral Facebook post claims that former President Barack Obama’s health insurance law penalized a family a large amount of money for not buying health insurance and that President Donald Trump was responsible for stopping the practice. The post features writing on the back of a car windshield that says, “Because our family couldn’t afford health insurance, Obama/Biden penalized us about $10,000, then took that $10,000 and used it to pay for others’ free Obamacare. Trump ended that theft.” (Knight, 10/29)
