The Trump administration took steps Thursday to strengthen President Donald Trump’s order to increase healthcare price transparency.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released new guidance to strengthen the Trump Hospital Price Transparency rules, which require hospitals to post the actual prices of items and services, not estimates. The CMS also issued a Request for Information (RFI) on how to boost compliance and enforcement.
“Transparency in health care is essential, not optional,” CMS Chief of Staff and Deputy Administrator Stephanie Carlton said in a statement.
“Americans deserve to know exactly what they’re paying for and what they’re getting in return. We’re pulling back the curtain on pricing and ultimately value – because accountability is a foundation of a healthier nation.”
Trump’s healthcare price transparency rule to empower Americans to make informed choices about their healthcare has been lauded as the “foundation for healthy America.”
Breitbart News reported on how the executive order could save consumers billions of dollars:
The executive order cited a 2023 analysis that found that, if fully implemented, this could save as much as $80 billion in healthcare costs for consumers. A report from 2024 suggested that transparency could help employers reduce healthcare costs by 27 percent across 500 common healthcare services. Recent data has found that the cost of the top 25 percent of most healthcare services was reduced by 6.3 percent per year after the initial implementation of the transparency rule.
“President Trump pledged to increase transparency and lower healthcare costs for everyday Americans. Promises made, promises kept – and we’re just getting started,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told Breitbart News in a written statement in April.
Ilaria Santangelo, the director of research for Patient Rights Advocate, said in a statement to Breitbart News, also in April:
President Trump delivering real prices in his first 100 days is a monumental achievement for the Make America Healthy Again movement. Without access to real prices, families across America are avoiding visits to the doctor for fear of unknown costs, preventing them from getting the care they need. Real prices in health care empower patients to make informed decisions and lay the foundation for a healthy America. Prioritizing price transparency so early on in his second term reaffirmed President Trump’s commitment to putting patients first and holding hospitals accountable.
Trump’s departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury announced an RFI requesting input on how to boost prescription drug transparency. It also released updated guidance for health plans and issuers that set a date for publishing an enhanced technical format for disclosures.
“Transparency empowers individuals to make well-informed health care decisions for themselves and their families,” Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said in a written statement.
“The departments’ actions today execute President Trump’s mission to address rising health care costs by promoting competition in the marketplace,” Sonderling continued.
“The Trump administration remains committed to delivering a more transparent, affordable, and patient-centered health care system. These efforts are a key part of the President’s mission to make America healthy again,” the CMS concluded in a statement.
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Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
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