North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein Calls on Hospitals to Reveal Real Prices

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein recently sent a letter to hospital administrators in the state calling on them to follow federal regulations and reveal their real prices so that patients and healthcare consumers can shop for the best care at the best prices. He demands state hospitals provide information showing how they’re complying with the hospital price transparency rule that took effect at the beginning of the year.

His efforts to robustly enforce hospital price transparency are a model for other government officials at the state and federal level. As AG Stein and Assistant AG Llogan Walters write:

For too long, consumers confronted with difficult medical situations have been forced to navigate the healthcare system with little, if any, information about the price of services they are told are necessary. This layers needless anxiety and uncertainty on top of what are already some of the most stressful and uncertain circumstances a person can face. It also creates the potential for abusive business practices. And the lack of price transparency can place upward pressure on hospital pricing, which, in turn, is largely responsible for driving out-of-control healthcare cost growth.

AG Stein concludes in a statement that this lack of price transparency is “not only unacceptable, it’s against the law.”

Read the full letter HERE.