Court upholds Trump rule requiring hospitals to disclose bills beforehand

Epoch Times:

The Trump administration can compel hospitals and insurers to publish negotiated costs for health care services that are normally kept secret from patients, a federal judge has ruled.

The ruling from Judge Carl Nichols with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on June 23 is a victory for the administration, which has been pushing for transparency in the U.S. health care system.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in June last year that pushes hospitals to publicly disclose the actual cost of services in an effort to lower health care costs and empower patients with information they need to find the lowest costs and the highest quality of care.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) introduced a rule in November 2019 that defined “standard charges,” laid out the publication requirements for hospitals and insurers, and the department’s enforcement plans.

At the time, hospital and insurer organizations and advocacy groups objected to the agency’s proposals, disputing that the Trump administration has the authority to require the disclosures, which they believe are trade secrets. The hospitals also disputed that the policy would benefit consumers and lead to lower costs, countering that compliance would instead be too burdensome and “get in the way” of providing services for patients.

The finalization of the rule, which goes into effect January 2021, prompted the American Hospital Association (AHA) to sue, arguing that the White House didn’t have the authority to make the directive, had violated the First Amendment in its creation, and had acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner.

Nichols, a Trump appointee, disagreed on June 23, saying that the hospital trade group was “attacking transparency measures generally” that are intended to “enable consumers to make informed decisions.”

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This is a good rule and I think hospitals should be able to adapt.  They can tell patients that the bill for certain costs are fixed and that other costs will depend on what doctors discover during the procedure.  They can give the range of those unknown costs.