Patients often face unclear medical pricing, where costs, coverage, and services remain difficult to understand, revealing persistent transparency failures in modern healthcare systems.
By Cathy McMorris Rodgers
Former U.S. House Representative (Washington)
One of my top priorities during my final years in Congress was bipartisan health care price-transparency legislation to empower patients and create incentives to reduce outrageous costs. Our bill came close but ultimately didn’t make it all the way through the legislative process.
I no longer serve in Congress, yet I believe more than ever that maximizing price transparency is the key to fixing American health care. In fact, leaving the Capitol has only intensified my passion for accomplishing this foundational reform. That’s why I’m asking my former colleagues to come together to pass the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act and reverse the runaway costs of care and coverage.
My husband and I recently spent time in the emergency room seeking necessary care for him. In moments like these, you don’t think about policy debates or legislation — you think about getting care as quickly as possible. We were grateful to the doctors and nurses who helped him and thankful that he recovered well.
But these situations are made more stressful as we, like most American families, fly blind on cost. Without upfront prices, it is very difficult to navigate the U.S. health care system and avoid huge medical bills.
Fortunately, my family receives health coverage through Tricare, thanks to my husband’s service in the Navy. That shields us from the costs that many other families face. For them, a single emergency room visit can mean devastating out-of-pocket costs and ever-rising annual premiums.
By requiring upfront prices throughout the health care system, the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act protects patients and their families from overcharges and helps them choose the best care at the best value. Price transparency would be a victory for everyone who has struggled to understand health care and prescription drug costs.
Price-transparency allows patients to spot wide price variations for the same care — even at the same hospital. For example, a new study by 3 Axis Advisors shows the price of the same chemotherapy can range between $12,000 to $43,000, and the same immunotherapy varies between $17,000 to $67,000.
This legislation can also restore employer-sponsored coverage, once a reliable pillar of American health care. According to the health policy nonprofit KFF, the average annual employer-sponsored family health premium is now $27,000, not including co-pays and deductibles. Escalating premium costs are reducing workers’ take-home pay and wage increases, and forcing more and more small businesses to drop coverage altogether.
The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act finally would finally give employers access to their claims data so they can spot hospital price gouging, insurance overbilling, and kickbacks that raise plan costs. With this information, they can design affordable health plans and share savings with their employees through lower premiums and higher wages. It’s no surprise 40 economists from all backgrounds say price transparency can save the American economy $1 trillion per year.
The legislation is also vital to families like mine with government insurance plans, including Tricare, Medicaid and Medicare. Such coverage often means long waits, difficulty securing appointments and limited provider choices. In those moments, many of us start wondering whether it would make more sense to just pay cash and get care sooner. Transparent pricing would let us weigh the trade-off between waiting for insurance and paying cash now, reducing wait times for others in the process.
Health care price transparency is an issue that should unite Congress. It is supported by a bipartisan supermajority of 90 percent of Americans because it isn’t left versus right — it is a matter of fairness and affordability. It is a fight worth continuing, and I intend to see it through.
Originally published by The Hill, 03.25.2026, republished under fair use.
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