PatientRightsAdvocate.org Calls on Gov. DeWine to Swiftly Sign Hospital Price Transparency Legislation
COLUMBUS — PatientRightsAdvocate.org (PRA) applauded today’s bipartisan passage by the Ohio General Assembly of major legislation to deliver hospital price transparency for Ohioans and urged Governor Mike DeWine to sign the bill without delay. The legislation, originally introduced as House Bill 49 by Ohio State Representatives Tim Barhorst (District 85) and Ron Ferguson (District 96) in February 2023, was passed unanimously by both chambers as an amendment to H.B. 173. If enacted, it would require Ohio hospitals to post the prices of available services online for upfront public viewing.
“By passing this strong price transparency bill, Ohio legislators ignored special interests and stood up for Ohio healthcare consumers who for too long have been blinded to prices and forced to pay for care with a blank check,” said PRA Founder and Chairman Cynthia Fisher. “This historic bill makes Ohio the first state in the nation to require that hospitals publish upfront prices in dollars and cents, so patients can protect themselves from overcharges and choose affordable care. We applaud Reps. Barhorst and Ferguson for their steadfast leadership and tireless efforts as they overcame every obstacle for nearly two years to make this critical bill a reality. Every Ohio patient, employer, family, and healthcare consumer can now benefit from actual, upfront healthcare prices, empowering them to rip off the blindfold and only pay agreed-upon, fair-market rates and benefit from remedy and recourse if overbilled. We urge Gov. DeWine to sign this bill into law immediately to substantially reduce Ohio’s healthcare costs and return these funds to workers, businesses, and public-sector budgets.”
The Barhorst-Ferguson legislation would codify the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule first enacted in January 2021 by President Donald J. Trump. According to PRA’s Seventh Semi-Annual Hospital Price Transparency Report released last month, only 13% of Ohio hospitals reviewed are fully complying with the rule. Of the 2,000 hospitals reviewed nationwide, just 21% are in full compliance.
When initially considered by the Ohio House of Representatives in June 2023, the bill (as H.B. 49) was passed by a bipartisan 90-5 landslide. As the legislation made its way through both chambers of the General Assembly, Ohioans negatively impacted by surprise hospital bills and hidden fees voiced their support for the bill’s enforcement provisions, including patients like Tracey Owens and Drew White.
Tracey Owens (Norton, OH): “Price transparency, as articulated in the Ohio legislation, empowers patients to avoid such outrageous healthcare costs and choose affordable care. ... It forces hospitals to compete over price and quality, just like everywhere else in the economy, putting downward pressure on costs. ... Signing this bill into law will help prevent more people from falling victim to the predatory healthcare system like I did. It will finally reduce outrageous state healthcare costs.”
Drew White (Cincinnati, OH): “We urgently need upfront prices to identify affordable care and avoid medical bankruptcy. ... If hospitals were required to post their prices, I could have compared surgery charges and chosen the best quality care at the lowest possible price. Unfortunately, since I was blinded to prices, I had no other option than to proceed with the surgery at my local hospital with only a prayer that the bill would be reasonable. ... Price transparency will catapult the American health care system into today's pro-consumer economy. It will end the days of six-figure bills for moderate surgeries and four-figure bills for stitches.”
In support of advancing the strongest possible version of H.B. 49, PRA led multiple public awareness campaigns, including the launch of RealPricesForOhio.com, paid targeted digital media, and mobile billboards driven around the Ohio Statehouse and the Ohio State University campus.
About PRA
PatientRightsAdvocate.org (PRA) is a leading national healthcare price transparency organization dedicated to ushering in systemwide transparency through advocacy, testimony, media, legal research, and grassroots campaigns. PRA believes that the availability and visibility of actual, upfront healthcare prices will greatly lower costs for patients and employers through a functional, competitive healthcare marketplace.