Rep. Don Beyer, a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, introduced the Healthcare Cost Transparency Act on Friday.
The legislation would require all health insurers to offer customers price comparison tools online or by phone to assist those seeking the comparable costs of services they might need.
“This legislation would help make the cost of health care more transparent, which would help consumers in two important ways,” said Rep. Beyer. “It would ensure that everyone has the information they need to compare the cost of different procedures and coverage options, so that they can find the best place to go for their care. In so doing, it would also exert additional market pressure to slow the rise of health care costs. Encouraging insurers to adopt consumer price comparison tools or personal staff to help navigate costs is clearly a public benefit and Congress would do substantial good by passing this bill to require it.”
Text of the Healthcare Cost Transparency Act is available here.
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