Meaningful health care price transparency requires actual prices – not estimates: Bryce Heinbaugh [Video]

ASHTABULA, Ohio — Recent economic data indicate inflation is resurgent, meaning the cost-of-living crisis facing many Ohioans shows no sign of slowing down. State legislators are trying to help by addressing one of residents’ most significant cost drivers: medical bills. According to a survey from 2019, 35% of Ohioans struggled to pay for health care.

Last June, the Ohio House overwhelmingly — on an 89-5 vote — passed transparency legislation via House Bill 49 that, if enacted as it passed the House, would finally shine a light on outrageous hospital prices. With this information, patients and employers could avoid hospital price-gouging, such as the $1,400 for steroid injections, including a $1,200 facility fee, that University Hospitals Mentor Health Center in Northeast Ohio charged one patient in 2021, according to KFF Health News.

Under the House-passed versionof HB 49, patients would be able to compare prices for such treatments and choose affordable options. Employers, unions, and patients could cross-reference hospital prices with their …