Transparency Stalled

It ain’t over ’til it’s over, but the chances Missouri’s general assembly takes action on healthcare price transparency in 2024 are getting smaller by the day.

At the end of January, I traveled to Jefferson City to deliver testimony on House Bill (HB) 1837, and at the time it seemed like the state’s legislature had finally decided to make healthcare price transparency a priority. HB 1837 is a bill that, among other things, codifies the federal government’s healthcare price transparency rules into state law, and was the first of its kind to receive a public hearing in Missouri. But since that hearing it has yet to receive any further attention from policymakers.

As my colleagues and I have written numerous times, Missouri desperately needs healthcare price transparency. And despite the federal government requiring hospitals to publish their price since 2021, fewer than 40% are complying nationally. That’s where HB 1837 comes in.

In addition to codifying the federal requirements into state law, the bill provides new protections for patients who receive health services in Missouri without being adequately informed of the prices beforehand. If patients aren’t told how much a procedure is going to cost before they receive it, there’s no way for them to plan for the expense, shop for a better deal, or even change their mind about the procedure altogether if the price is more than they can afford at the time.

HB 1837, which is modeled after legislation that became law in Colorado a few years ago, would shield patients from debt collection efforts by hospitals that aren’t complying with the required price transparency laws. Patients who find out they were overcharged would also have recourse for financial restitution (a way to get some of their money back).

With Missouri’s legislature, it’s always difficult to know why a bill stopped advancing, but one thing that was clear from the hearing on HB 1837 was that hospital lobbyists were vehemently opposed to it becoming law. The opposition claimed that complying with the transparency requirements would be too expensive. In fact, the cost is one of the primary reasons the federal government cites for not currently punishing noncompliant hospitals. But these requirements have been in place now for more than three years, which is more than enough time for hospitals to budget for this.

Given how confusing and expensive our healthcare system is, Missouri patients can’t afford to wait any longer for hospitals or the federal government to act. Healthcare price transparency would be a real win for Missourians in their battle against ever-rising healthcare costs. There’s still about a month left in the legislative session, so it’s still possible that our general assembly could push healthcare price transparency across the finish line this year, but at this point, I certainly wouldn’t hold my breath.