A few weeks ago, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) passed a ruling demanding that healthcare institutions post the fees that they charge for various services on their websites.
“It’s about time!” was the general reaction. In what other industry in the world do you obtain services and have no clue how much things are going to cost?
Unfortunately, as many have pointed out already, the new law will probably not do much to foster transparency.
For one thing, the prices posted by hospitals are the “list prices” for various services. List prices are prices that have nothing to do with reality. They are highly inflated and unrealistic numbers that hospitals and medical groups use to start a price negotiation with health insurance plans.
