Opinion: Good health care price transparency rules are at risk if Congress doesn’t act
Health price transparency isn’t just about consumers — it’s also about designing employee health plans that benefit everyone.
Consider shopping for cereal in the grocery store. Buyers easily know how many grams of sugar and calories are in a serving, as well as how much the box costs, before they get to the checkout line. Yet in the U.S. health care market, this often isn’t the case. Prices are both high and highly variable as well as difficult to observe. I’m an economics professor. In the courses I teach, I expound on the importance of complete and accurate information about prices and quality in well-functioning markets. When buyers and sellers have access to accurate and timely information, the invisible hand can become a powerful force that causes prices to fall to the level of costs and markets to be efficient.
My own research shows that the same procedures, such as MRIs and office visits, vary greatly from one community to the next. But don’t take my word for it. Award winning hip-hop artist Fat Joe recently said, “Well, if I’m going to have a colonoscopy, I want to look up my three favorite hospitals and see what the prices are. … It’s the only thing in the world that you go to and you gotta guess how much you’re paying.”
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