President Donald Trump’s executive order to enforce healthcare price transparency has been hailed as transformative in lowering costs and “cements Trump’s legacy” as a leader in healthcare reform.
Trump in late February signed an executive order that renewed orders he had issued during his first term in office requiring hospitals and health insurers to deliver “meaningful price information to the American people.”
By requiring real-time prices of healthcare services for health insurance plans, consumers could price shop and find the best deal for their healthcare needs.
Former Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) last June said that the healthcare price transparency rule could benefit Americans more than Obamacare. His proposal to codify the legislation has received support from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Given the bipartisan interest in healthcare price transparency, David Kochel, a GOP strategist, said that this executive order shows how Trump’s policies help reach swing voters.
“President Trump has already shown an ability to peel away votes from Democrats on other issues related to the working class, and healthcare presents the next best opportunity for him to reach swing voters on a key issue for American families,” Kochel said.
Surveys have shown that Democrats are trusted far more on healthcare than Republicans, making this executive order an opportunity for the GOP to gain more trust from voters.
The executive order cited a 2023 analysis that found that, if fully implemented, this could save as much as $80 billion in healthcare costs for consumers. A report from 2024 suggested that transparency could help employers reduce healthcare costs by 27 percent across 500 common healthcare services. Recent data has found that the top 25 percent of most healthcare services were reduced by 6.3 percent after the initial implementation of the transparency rule.
Despite the potentially huge potential for Americans to save on health care, which is one of the largest expenses for the average American household, it appears that the Biden administration has, in the words of House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-KY), “slow-walked” enforcement against hospitals.
The Biden Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) fined only 18 hospitals for noncompliance or hiding prices during Biden’s time in office.
The Patients Rights Advocate found in its latest compliance report that only 21.1 percent of hospitals complied with the transparency rules.
Cynthia Fisher, the founder and chairman of the Patient Rights Advocate, said in a statement after Trump’s signing of the healthcare price transparency executive order:
President Trump paved the way for actual healthcare prices for American patients, taxpayers, employers, and unions — the true purchasers of care.
…
This order cements Trump’s legacy as the president who transformed American health care and lowered the costs of care and coverage for all consumers. In this new day, American patients will be put first.”
The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) found that, even though the transparency rule took effect in January 2021, the Biden administration “waited four months before CMS began taking any action.”
“Unsurprisingly, monetary penalties are the exception rather than the rule, with just four hospitals facing fines by CMS. Even when fines are issued, the amounts are so insignificant that hospitals can recoup the monetary assessments in as little as 40 minutes of patient revenue. And in the rare instances when fines are assessed on hospitals, it is only after months of noncompliance,” the FGA continued, noting the lack of accountability for hospitals that do not comply with the transparency requirements.
Andrew Bremberg, the former Director of the Domestic Policy Council, said that Trump can deliver a “major victory for the American people” with this price transparency.
“In his first administration, President Trump paved the way for healthcare price transparency, which was met by rollbacks and lackluster enforcement under the Biden administration,” Bremberg explained. “Now that we have real leadership back in the White House with President Trump, he will finally have the opportunity to enforce transparency rules and deliver actual prices in health care. This is a major victory for the American people.”Further, Fisher has said that the Biden administration allowed for “estimates, averages, and algorithms,” not prices, “none of which can help patients make informed decisions.”
In contrast, Fisher stated, Trump’s executive order calls for actual price disclosure and for data standardization, which would allow for developers to aggregate prices to make them “actionable for patients.”
Trump’s executive order has even inspired state lawmakers such as Oklahoma state Rep. Mark Lepak (R) to cosponsor a bill to codify the transparency rule into state law. He said in a statement to Breitbart News:
Previous presidents have talked a big game about taking on the healthcare system and lowering costs for working class families, but President Trump is actually doing it. Showing patients what a hospital procedure costs before they undergo it is just plain common sense, but it takes strong enforcement to actually make happen. My colleagues and I are fighting for the same solution here in Oklahoma and are proud to follow President Trump’s example in putting patients first. By taking powerful action in both of his terms and refusing to be swayed by special interests in Washington, President Trump is making healthcare history and providing a roadmap for reform in every state capital. Full healthcare price transparency will help protect hardworking people from overcharges and surprise billing while unleashing new competition that will bring down costs for families in Oklahoma and nationwide. I am so glad to see President Trump triumph on this issue in his first 100 days.
Other states such as Ohio, Nevada, Wisconsin, Oregon, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and others are following suit.
Fixing healthcare costs could be a key to alleviating Americans from the high cost of health care, especially as Americans are recovering from years of “Bidenflation.”
Americans have been saddled with $74 billion in loans to pay for medical bills and more than one-third of Americans have postponed or avoided medical care for fear of unknown costs.
“Nearly everyone has been overcharged by egregious surprise medical bills. Shining the light and requiring upfront prices empowers patients with choices to lower costs and be protected from overcharges,” Fisher told Breitbart News. “When transparency is enforced, prices will usher in competition to empower American workers and businesses to globally compete, no longer spending 2.5 times more on health care than other developed countries while dying younger.”Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
