BILL TO INCREASE TRANSPARENCY IN HEALTHCARE COSTS ADVANCES

Posted: March 05, 2014 | Insurance and Financial Services, Senator Gratwick

Proposal would expose the hidden costs of health care

AUGUSTA –The Insurance and Financial Affairs Committee gave unanimous support to a bill to increase transparency in health care costs. The legislation is a result of a special study commission chaired by Democratic Senator Geoff Gratwick of Bangor to explore the transparency of hospital billing and increase public access to hospital financial information and health care costs.

 

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” said Senator Gratwick, a practicing physician and Senate chair of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee. “When you go to the doctor or hospital, you should know beforehand what the costs are likely to be. Knowing prices up front allows us to be better consumers of health care.”

 

The measure would provide patients with a critical tool for managing their health care costs by allowing patients to determine how much an elective procedure would cost and allow them to compare the costs of hospitals and providers.

 

Senator Gratwick sponsored legislation to create the commission partly as a result of a report by Time Magazine that revealed exorbitant medical costs hidden in bills from hospitals in Maine and other states. One cancer patient was charged $77 for a box of gauze; another patient with pneumonia was charged $134 for a $5 bag of saline.

 

A recent federal report found that there is significant variation in prices for the same medical procedures at different hospitals. Here in Maine, the report noted that the average price of pneumonia treatment is $20,058 at York Hospital, but only $5,402 at Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent.

 

Last month, the Health and Human Services Committee voted 12-1 to support a bill sponsored by Senator Dick Woodbury requiring hospitals to publicly disclose the costs for common procedures.

 

The bills, LD 1760, “An Act To Implement the Recommendations of the Commission To Study Transparency, Costs and Accountability of Health Care System Financing” and LD 1642, “An Act To Clarify the Law Governing Public Disclosure of Health Care Prices,” will now be sent to the Senate and the House for further votes.