Salt Lake City – Healthcare prices are the highest ever, according to Joshua Wright of the Utah Foundation. And what makes this even more difficult is that healthcare consumers don’t know what price they will pay until after the procedure.
He said the transparency initiatives are not alleviating the pain consumers feel when opening up healthcare costs.
Patients are entitled to a pricing estimate for non-emergency services following the No Sustrises Act, which became effective nationwide in 2022. However, the law requires providers to provide self-paid or uninsured patient prices as prices change when insurance is introduced.
Wright said most prices are available, but the numbers are accurate and it is still debate whether they “rarely reach patients” especially in Utah.
The Utah Foundation released a report on Tuesday called “X-raying Health Care: A Look in Utahns.” The organization has been researching in Utah for 80 years.
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services’ All Wage Claims Database said it provides anonymized medical information about the actual costs paid by Yutern for the services. Researchers and cost comparison tools can utilize a large amount of data. Comparison of health costs in Utahhelps consumers to see costs outside the estimates of various procedures or appointments.
Despite this valuable information being made available, the report shows that the website only receives around 250 visitors each month.
In addition to information about facilities and providers already available, allowing insurers to make information searchable can help people find more specific costs in their situations, and could be more useful than comparing prices for different facilities and doctors in general, the report says.
The report said 17% of Americans reported in 2024 that they knew the costs prior to treatment, citing another study. Additionally, a 2022 survey said that only 12% of Americans found that they are “health literacy” or that they understand the information and services they can use to make health-related decisions.
Tuesday Report There has been a push for price transparency from both sides of the political island, but transparency alone has only a small impact on prices. Politicians also concluded that policies designed to lower prices should be implemented.
Wright said price transparency is an opportunity for bipartisan cooperation and means “there is a lot of room for action.”
Matt Slonaker said there is a consensus on affordable prices between political parties, but it doesn’t suit how to cut costs.
He also said there are cultural issues – people are not encouraged to shop at the lowest prices, but instead are encouraged to maintain current doctors with medical history and follow health insurance advice to look at health care providers.
“Patients should be somewhat empowered in this environment,” he said.
According to Slonaker, patients need to engage with their physicians about which options are available, including what options are available at a lower cost.
Another proposal from Wright and Tuesday’s report is to mandate the availability of “advanced benefits explanations,” in which insurance companies and healthcare providers must work together to provide cost estimates to patients prior to care. This was a requirement of the No Surprise Act, but was put on hold without a specific date due to the infrastructure unavailable.
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