Senators to examine hospital price transparency legislation

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is set to examine a bill next week to require hospitals and insurance companies to display prices for provided services.

Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, and John Hickenlooper, D-Co., introduced the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act in July 2025, requiring hospitals to publicly report negotiated rates, costs and cash prices for ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers and clinical labs.

Members on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will meet to markup the bill on Wednesday. Marshall estimated the bill would reduce healthcare costs for families by $1,000 per month when it is signed into law.

“When this bill is signed into law, there will be total transparency of healthcare bills ,which is going to drive competition, which is going to bring the cost of healthcare down,” Marshall told The Center Square on a press call.

He said the bill will give patients more flexibility to compare prices between various providers. The bill is similar to the Trump administration’s executive actions to mandate price transparency but, Marshall said, his legislation gives a greater enforcement mechanism to implement change.

“My marching orders to the staff is, ‘let’s close the loopholes and put teeth in the bill,’” Marshall said. “Which I think we’ve done.”

Functionally, the bill would require the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to collect a monthly report of each hospital’s standard charges. The secretary would be required to establish a format for hospitals to compile and make public standard charges.

The bill also would guarantee group health plans have access to claims data and prevent third parties from restricting access to the claims data for patients.

Cynthia Fisher, founder of Patient Rights Advocate, praised the bill’s progress. She said the legislation will allow patients to match their bills to the negotiated rates with hospitals and insurance providers.

“Prices are truly transformative because they stop the rampant overcharges that the American people have been experiencing and also stop fraud and errors in their tracks,” Fisher said.

Marshall estimated that American families are approaching nearly $6 trillion per year on healthcare nationally. She said price transparency will bring market forces back to the healthcare space.

“Trust me, consumers do know how to shop and they will shop and they do know how to control their finances,” Fisher said. “They just need to see the price and they need to see the itemized bill and have that control.”

The legislation also would prevent hospitals from using a price estimator tool in order to comply with the order. The hospitals are required to provide upfront pricing without a tool’s assistance.

The bill does not address all medical emergencies or unplanned procedures. The legislation primarily focuses on elective surgeries or procedures you can get ahead of time.

Marshall said the bill can still provide a starting point to negotiate for complications, including polyp removals and c-sections.

“Running the hospital, a complication happens, but at least we have a price set up front and it’s a great negotiation point to start with,” Marshall said.

Marshall projected confidence on the bill’s passage, amid other pieces of price transparency legislation. He said he has 24 senators – 12 from each party – in support of the bill.

“When you have 12 [Democrat] and 12 [Republican] co-sponsors, I think there’s a path to victory,” Marshall said. “There’s no other action item that would have as big an impact on the cost of health care as transparency, as giving patients their price tags.”