Illustration: Lindsey Bailey / Axios
Forty prominent economists are urging senators to sign on to legislation requiring that prices of common health procedures be published. Their request is being made in a letter shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: The letter adds to calls for more visibility into the cost of medical items and services, and the confidential rates that payers and providers negotiate.
State of play: Sens. Roger Marshall and John Hickenlooper introduced the "Patients Deserve Price Tags Act" last week.
- It would require public reporting of negotiated rates, costs and cash prices for services provided at hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers and clinical labs.
- Providers and facilities would also be required to provide an itemized bill for each item or service, or the total price for bundled items.
- The bill would help codify executive orders President Trump issued on price transparency in 2019 and again this February.
What they're saying: "As professional economists, we are united in our belief that real price transparency is urgently required to reverse the nation's runaway healthcare costs that place a tremendous financial burden on patients, employers, workers, and the national economy," the group wrote in the letter.
- "By requiring actual prices, which are a fundamental part of any functional marketplace, the bipartisan Marshall-Hickenlooper bill finally corrects the unacceptable information asymmetry that requires healthcare consumers to pay for care with the equivalent of a blank check."
Signers include include Arthur Laffer, David Cutler and Steve Forbes.
- The letter is being sent to all Senate offices.
