Heath Care Pricing Transparency and Consumer Rights: Intro

Recent legislation and agency action have brought about health care pricing transparency tools which apply to hospital-owned facilities (outpatient clinics, family practice, imaging centers, urgent care centers, etc.) and to health insurance companies.  There are also new protections for consumers facing medical debt.  We hope to make these laws and regulations more accessible through this practical guide.  

We take inspiration from the following quotes:

"We believe consumers should be able to know, long before they open a medical bill, roughly how much a hospital will charge for items and services it provides. Beginning January 1, 2021, hospitals’ standard charges, including the rates they negotiate with insurance companies and the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept directly from a patient if paid in cash, must be publicly available, free of charge, and presented in a consumer-friendly display." -- U.S. CMS, Hospital Price Transparency consumer site

"Every day the U.S. Government issues congressional bills, laws, regulations, presidential documents, studies, and more on a variety of topics. The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) was established by Congress to ensure that the American public has access to its Government's information.... FDLP libraries collaborate on a local and national level to provide informed access to both historical and current Federal Government resources." -- excerpted from U.S. Government Publishing Office, FDLP basics.

"Paying for Health Care Expenses: Prescription for Healthy Finances," presented as part of Staff Development Week, May 21, 2024.