Congress must get healthcare price transparency right

When I was 21 years old, I drove to the nearest hospital with a leg swollen to the size of a toddler. After hours of pokes, prods and scans, I learned I had a blood clot that was dangerously close to killing me.

Shockingly, that was not the most frightening news of the night.

As a terrified college student, I asked anyone who would listen: how much is this going to cost me? After repeated shakes of the head and assertions that “it didn’t matter,” one hospital worker gave me the brutal answer: $18,000, at least. Forget the blood clot — that number gave me a panic attack.

I had no way of knowing at the time, but that devastating price tag wasn’t real. I later asked the hospital to itemize the exact price of my treatments; it turns out my bill would come out to less than $900 if I paid in cash. But in the convoluted world of healthcare pricing, the hospital was planning to charge my insurance company so much more. The insurer later negotiated it down, but the bill still came out to thousands of dollars, not the much lower cash price.

I’ve been thinking about this traumatic experience as the House and Senate debate legislation on price transparency. Both chambers — and strong majorities of both parties — want to give patients an honest look at real costs with the goal of making healthcare more affordable and shoppable. So does President Trump, who has issued an executive order on price transparency and wants legislation to lock in even stronger........

© The Hill