Hospitals may face stiffer penalties for not showing their prices. Photo: Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The federal government has proposed raising penalties on hospitals that do not publish prices they negotiate with private health insurers.
Why it matters: Many hospitals were not complying with the new regulation that required them to post prices for at least 300 "shoppable" services, in part because the maximum penalty was only $110,000 per year. The federal government is proposing to raise the maximum penalty to $2 million per year for the largest hospitals.