On January 1, 2021, a CMS rule requiring hospitals to post their real prices, including their discounted cash and secret negotiated rates, took effect. PatientRightsAdvocate.org surveyed a sampling of American hospitals in the spring of 2021 to determine the level of compliance with the rule. We found that just 86 of 431 hospitals surveyed (20%) are complying with it.

Healthcare expert Brian Blase, Special Assistant to the President at White House National Economic Council from 20'17 to 2019, takes on critics of healthcare price transparency in a new op-ed in The Hill. He explains how price transparency criticisms, including that patients are shielded from prices and that price disclosures lead to tacit collusion, miss the mark.

Cynthia Rivera, a patient from upstate New York, tells her story in the Syracuse Post-Standard of saving thousands of dollars by shopping for healthcare. She highlights how empowered patients don’t need to “wait on Washington” to address the healthcare cost crisis.

A bipartisan group of legislators from the U.S. House of Representatives wrote a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra last week demanding increased enforcement of the hospital price transparency rule that took effect at the beginning of the year. Numerous recent studies have shown widespread non-compliance with the rule.

Cynthia A. Fisher, CEO and Chair of PatientRIghtsAdvocate.org, has an op-ed in the Washington Examiner highlighting spring financial disclosures by major American health insurers showing sky-high profits and executive compensation. Cynthia explains how this profiteering is not only a function of fewer claims paid out in a pandemic year but also the result of opaque pricing practices that prevent consumers from shopping.

Scott Ross is a seasoned private investigator in Los Angeles, working on some of the biggest criminal cases in the state over the last couple of decades. But even he can’t uncover opaque hospital prices.

Hospital compliance with the new price transparency rule that took effect at the beginning of the year has been poor. Price lists are often confusing, consist of mere estimates, and don't represent all-in prices. According to research published in Health Affairs, two-thirds of large hospitals are non-compliant.

Just in time for Halloween, the new Transparency in Coverage Final Rule released Thursday is a sweet treat for consumers, as it means insurance companies must stop the tricks and end the masquerade of keeping their scary and mysterious prices in the dark.

Polling conducted by the Marist Poll from January 14-17, 2021 shows that Americans overwhelmingly support their right to see prices in healthcare by requiring hospitals and insurance companies to disclose their real prices.