In case you missed it, Senator Mike Braun penned an op-ed for the Journal Gazette on Indiana’s health care costs, and how transparency solutions he’s authored in the Senate can help bring down costs for Hoosiers.
Key Points:Â
- While Indiana is a leader in manufacturing and distribution of medical products, our health care consistently ranks as one of the most expensive in the country: straining employers and Hoosiers alike.
- In 2020, Hoosier employers paid almost three times the prices they paid Medicare for the same services, higher than all four surrounding states: Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky.
- The lack of compliance with the Hospital Price Transparency rule by hospitals across the country, especially in Indiana, is disappointing (only 14% of hospitals nationwide are complying with the price transparency rule).
- Transparency is the key to competition, which leads to greater access and quality of health care: Without visibility into prices, self-insured employers are not only unable to offer coverage plans that provide the most value to their employees, they’re also forced to bear the brunt of often high-priced care of their employees.
- I have a solution called the Health Care PRICE Transparency Act, which would require basic transparency in hospital service pricing and insurer cost-sharing information.
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