Democrat endorses GOP plan on hospital price disclosure

The Hill: Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, is endorsing two Republican plans to require hospitals disclose their prices while other Democrats are pushing a much broader bill in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Green "hopes to bring other Democrats with him, arguing a scaled-down approach stands a better chance of becoming law than the Democratic proposal, which would apply to all healthcare providers, including hospitals, physicians, pharmacies, drug makers and insurers." Green said inclusion of all those groups makes it less likely lawmakers will get anything. "The panel's Health subcommittee is holding a hearing on all three bills Thursday morning. Some lobbyists following the issue view the hearing as little more than a chance for lawmakers to make the case that they're looking out for consumers' interests; one Republican health consultant says he's 'skeptical [transparency] legislation will pass the Congress.'" Another measure from Rep. Steve Kagen, D-Wis., would apply the disclosure rules to any health care provider (Pecquet, 5/5).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.