When it comes to navigating the health care system, the Hispanic community in the United States is at a huge disadvantage. Language and cultural barriers contribute to the worst outcomes among Hispanics, the racial or ethnic group with the highest percentage of people without health insurance.
High copays and deductibles put health care out of reach for even patients with insurance, but particularly Hispanics, who often take risks and prioritize other expenses over health. Half of uninsured Hispanic adults say they haven’t had a medical appointment in the past year, and 63% of them admit they couldn’t afford a $1,000 unexpected medical bill in 30 days.
The causes are many and complex, but there is a simple and acceptable solution: transparency in the price of health care.
Nearly 60% of Americans reported shock at the outrageous price of basic medical supplies they thought their insurance covered: $8 for a bag to put your belongings in, $23 for a single alcohol swab; $10 for the small plastic cup used to take medications and $53 for non-sterile gloves. (The sterile ones are more expensive).
Amanda Partee-Manders, a mother who received a $47,091.01 hospital bill after giving birth by C-section, was caught off guard by the outrageous string of charges. Going out of her way to get an itemized bill, she discovered it included nearly $4,000 for IV Tylenol and $522 for outpatient care, despite never having received it at that hospital.
The Trump-era 2021 Hospital Price Transparency Rule requires healthcare professionals to disclose prices to their clients in computer-readable files and a consumer price transparency tool. More than 6,000 hospitals must post online their rates for common services like X-rays, lab tests and C-sections.
However, lobbyists and interest groups have fought fiercely to continue to confuse patients and keep them uninformed, resulting in incomplete and inconsistent information. After two years, an analysis by the nonprofit Patient Rights Advocate found that three out of four hospitals have failed to comply with the standard, claiming that “it is too expensive to implement.”
Transparency in health care is one of the few bipartisan issues, with nearly 90% public support, but Congress must do more, and the Biden administration must make it a reality. Members of the House of Representatives are taking swift action to standardize the process across states in order to make hospitals comply. In addition, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently increased the penalty for noncompliance from $100,000 to more than $2 million per year per hospital.
By codifying true price transparency, lawmakers have an opportunity to combat the costly health care crisis and ensure that all Americans receive the care they deserve, at a price that is transparent and fair. For the good of all, it is time to end the secrecy that protects the health sector and be honest about what treatment and services cost, once and for all.
* Judy Pino is a spokesperson for the Independent Women’s Forum. Kelsey Bolar is the director of messaging and senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum.