Nearly every state failing with healthcare price transparency, report says
Grades based on which states have legislation that dictates price transparency portals be set up.
It’s a safe bet that the state you live in is failing when it comes to price transparency for medical procedures, according to a new report by the The Catalyst for Payment Reform and the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute.
In fact, 45 states earned a ‘F’ in this year’s report, highlighting just how far most regions need to come to provide price transparency.
New Hampshire earned an ‘A,’ Colorado and Maine earned a ‘B’ and Virginia and Vermont earned a ‘C’ in the report, which bases its grades on which states have legislation that dictates price transparency portals be set up.
The report even docked states that had earned higher marks in the past. For example, Massachusetts lost its previous high marks after a 2014 law shifted the responsibility of price transparency to health plans, which resulted in the public portal being shut.
“While we believe that health plans play an important role and should assist patient members in estimating costs, the lack of a public website with price information leaves out entire populations of consumers, especially the uninsured,” the groups wrote in the report.
On the other hand, New Hampshire jumped from an ‘F’ to the sole ‘A’ grade this year on the state’s launch of NH HealthCost, which the group called a prime example of how a price transparency site should function.
Colorado already jumped from a ‘C’ to a ‘B’ this year on the state’s launch of its own public website.
Here is the full map of how states fared:
Twitter: @HenryPowderly
