CLEVELAND — News 5 Investigators have been fighting for answers about the prices you pay for health care, and we are following through on some recent changes to an important bill that could affect your costs.
Ten months ago, Ohio House reps created HB 49 that, among other consumer assistance, would have made it a law for medical facilities to have real prices posted, not just estimates.
This week the Ohio Senate Small Business and Economic Opportunity Committee drastically altered the bill, changing administrative penalties, prohibiting most of those facility fees you must pay at outpatient services, and it gets rid of a provision that stops hospitals from collecting debts until they are compliant with transparency regulations.
NEW VERSION OF BILL BRINGS CRITICISM
“It seems to be a bill that is in favor of the hospitals rather than the patients,” said Republican Rep. Ron Ferguson who is the co-sponsor of the original House Bill 49. He told us the initial debt collections benefit came from across the aisle. “I was glad to insert that into the bill, and it’s nice to see that bipartisan support a bill. That’s why you saw all 32 Democrats vote for it in the Ohio House.”
Sen. George Lang is the Chairman of the Small Business Committee. He told us changes were needed to help keep Ohio competitive in the health care industry, to attract business, and to have fewer regulations.
But what about actual prices patients pay? Lang said hospitals should be allowed to use price estimators only. He compared it to when you bring in a car to get it fixed. You get an estimate, but when the mechanic pops the hood and finds more problems, he should not be held to that first estimate.
Not everyone agrees.
NATIONAL TRANSPARENCY GROUP WEIGHS IN
“Estimates in health care are not real prices,” said Linda Bent, the President of PatientRightsAdvocate.Org. That group said it has been keeping track of medical pricing transparency for the past three years, most recently reporting only 34.5% of hospitals in the U.S. are fully compliant. And in Ohio, it is much worse. “With only 9% of Ohio hospitals fully complying with the law that requires them to post their prices, we need a strong state-level price transparency bill,” said Bent.
Lang said his version is good for Ohio. Many in the House do not see it that way. The original HB 49 version passed 90 to 5. "I’m going to fight to the bitter end,” said Rep. Ferguson. “This is actually the only bill that I’m running this General Assembly. That’s how much it means to me. This is the only one."
The bill was put forward with major pushback from hospitals.
We have checked with Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals about their federal transparency compliance. They have said they are already following the rules. However, PatientRightsAdvocate.Org has found facilities that it said are not complying.
If you feel passionate about health care price transparency either way, you are encouraged to contact your state senators, the Senate Small Business and Economic Opportunity Committee, and file a complaint with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services when there are issues with your billing.
