High Healthcare Costs Driven by Opaque Prices, Market Consolidation: Hearing
Lawmakers and healthcare experts drew attention to continued problems with price transparency and unchecked consolidation in a hearing focused on the high cost of healthcare in the United States.
“Transparency is vital in moving to a functional market and lowering healthcare prices–put simply, we must have the data,” said Marilyn J. Bartlett, an accountant with the National Academy for State Health Policy who worked on the Montana State Employee Health Plan.
“Despite a decade of transparency laws on the books, employers, unions, states, and other purchasers continue to face challenges with substantial non-compliance,” she added.
Bartlett was one of five bipartisan witnesses who spoke at the March 28 hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health….