Independent Women’s Voice (IWV), in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order to arm patients with price and quality information about their health care, thanks President Trump for the courage and vision to make American health care great again. Health care is not a right or left issue; it should be about patients and their doctors, not about protecting insurers, hospitals, drug companies, pharmacies, and special interest groups. Today’s executive order is an overdue and much-needed first step towards truly consumer-friendly and consumer-driven health care.
In no sphere of our lives but health care would we engage in transactions with no idea what they will cost, no idea what alternative providers would charge, and obscure, exorbitant bills that come long after the fact with arbitrary, costly charges, like facility fees, attached.
“Ours is not a rational or transparent healthcare system, but one rigged to provide maximum obscurity and maximum advantage to the big business of health care,” said Heather Higgins, CEO of IWV. “We thank President Trump and his administration for feeling the pain of patients and doctors, taking on these deep-pocketed special interests, and putting the American people, who have been so hurt by these practices, first.”
We encourage the relevant regulatory agencies to implement rules under this executive order that all net and cash prices are posted online, for consumers to see, including the all-in costs and fees they will be charged before any and all procedures or purchases, rather than after. That will end surprise bills. Equally important, so that we can begin to make health care once again affordable, these rules must allow patients to compare all options, including outside their network and cash prices, for all non-emergency care. This will drive prices down, as it has in every other sphere where markets exist, will make HSA”s workable, and will make health care affordable for the many who are now foregoing it.
