Health care price transparency rules are now in effect, so why isn't it the norm?

Lack of pricing transparency makes controlling health care costs a big challenge for employers.

Over two years have passed since the federal hospital price transparency rule was enacted. Still, America struggles with high, painfully-opaque pricing across health care that hurts employers, workers, patients, and taxpayers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that in 2021, the nation spent $4.3 trillion on health care–nearly twice the average of other nations in the developed world. Noncompliance and price gouging abound in a market where employers and consumers are blindsided by costs revealed only after care is rendered.

Currently, 150 million Americans have access to employer-provided health benefits, which makes them the largest source of health care coverage in the United States. Employers have increasingly grown frustrated by ‌rising costs and their lack of power to negotiate them. At the same time, 100 million Americans find themselves in health care debt. Consumers have difficulty planning for medical expenses because many hospitals are not clearly publishing their pricing information in a way that is accessible to most people.