SURVEY
Our polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly support ending hidden prices in healthcare, and want Congress to reinforce efforts to require hospitals and insurance companies to disclose their real prices.
Highlights are below, and the complete results can be found:
Nearly 9 out of 10 believe ALL
prices should be disclosed
Every day, innovative employers and providers are saving thousands for patients and businesses by implementing a price transparent healthcare model.
Overwhelming majority believes price transparency leads to lower prices
Price transparency in health care would lead to more competition between providers and between health plans, which would improve quality while lowering healthcare prices and lowering the cost of health coverage
A significant majority believe that healthcare lobbyists should drop their lawsuit against price transparency
Do you believe the hospital lobbying groups and special interest groups
should drop their lawsuits against healthcare price transparency?
A majority believe price transparency should be passed in the next COVID-19 stimulus bill
Do you believe that healthcare price transparency should be passed into law now, or do
you believe it should be delayed to give hospitals and insurers more time to implement it?
A majority believe price transparency should be passed in the next COVID-19 stimulus bill
Do you believe that healthcare price transparency should be passed into law now, or do
you believe it should be delayed to give hospitals and insurers more time to implement it?
July 13-15, 2020, McLaughlin Group, 1,200 voters in AZ, CO, GA, IA, ME, MT, NC.
A majority are more likely to vote for a Member of Congress who supports price transparency
Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for a member of Congress who votes to include price transparency for hospitals and insurance companies in the next COVID-19 stimulus bill?
May 21-25, 2020, McLaughlin Group, 1000 voters.
Americans Believe Health Care Transparency Will Lower Prices, Save Money, Improve Their Health, and Give Them Control
If I had easy access to prices and quality ratings for doctors, imaging centers and any health care service or product, I would use this information to shop for health care.
Note: 76% believe most Americans would use this information to shop.
If I had easy access to prices and quality ratings for doctors, imaging centers and any health care service or product, I would be more likely to seek timely health care when I need it.
If most Americans shopped for health care using easy to access price and quality information, workers and employers would save money.
If most Americans shopped for health care using easy to access price and quality information, it would reduce the cost of health care coverage, such as health insurance, employer self-funded health plans, Medicare and Medicaid.
Notes: McLaughlin Group, Feb 2020, 1,000 LV Informed Ballot (first presented three facts about price variation in healthcare.)*
*We first asked, “When it comes to medical care, higher prices are typically a sign of higher quality.”
75% Disagreed. This suggests Americans will not choose higher priced providers assuming they are higher quality.
Focus Groups Across The Country Found That Patients Want Price Transparency In Health Care
Patients had strong distrust and fear of the healthcare system.
Woman in Pittsburgh, PA
My parents were in the hospital. Some doctors were coming in that were out-of-network in my parents' rooms, and we didn't know until we got home...
Woman in Charlotte, NC
I have insurance…I had one child this year who was hospitalized for five months…the amount of out-of-pocket costs that I have I staggering and overwhelming even with a company-based plan.
Woman in Charlotte, NC
Neck was broken. Had to have surgery the day before Christmas that year…I [then] had a stroke and I found out I had two aneurysms. All of this is happening with no healthcare insurance…I'm currently $1.5 million in debt so I could be alive…I'll never get out of this.
Transparency was seen as a catalyst to restoring honesty and accountability to healthcare in America.
Independent: It would maybe make insurance companies be more honest if we're watching them… You see the costs everything else you’re buying. So why can't we see those costs? People will hold them accountable. I want to see it.
Participants believed price transparency would lower prices.
Suburban Woman: We look for better deals for a toaster, which is non-essential, and we use our coupons and discounts and everything. If [healthcare] was that transparent, it would be like going to eBay…
People felt they had a right to know prices before a service or procedure, even if they weren’t sure how they would act upon that information.
Independent: We pay for the insurance. We pay into it or our companies do…So why wouldn't we — why would we only know part of it?
Patients believed that they should have quick and easy access to their complete electronic health information, the availability, quality, and performance of doctors, and greater insight into the healthcare system.
Suburban Woman: “It’s not transparent at all. The doctor’s not telling you half of this stuff we need to know. They type it in that little chart and you never know what they type into that little chart. I don’t see that little chart and they say you can go online but you don't get the secret notes that they're putting in there. Put that little chart up on a wall so I can see what you’re typing into it. Don’t tell me you don't have the technology today to do that."
Patients and their families feel overwhelmed and fearful about healthcare
WATCH VIDEO →
Patients believe they have a right to know the price of their care in advance
WATCH VIDEO →
Voters support the Trump Administration's policies on price transparency
WATCH VIDEO →
