February 25, 2025 Making America Healthy Again by Empowering Patients with Clear, Accurate, and Actionable Healthcare Pricing Information
- Fact Seeker
- Mar 15
- 2 min read
Overview
This executive order focuses on improving price transparency in the U.S. healthcare system by enforcing existing regulations and expanding access to clear and accurate healthcare pricing information. The order builds upon Executive Order 13877 (June 24, 2019), which established initial transparency requirements for hospitals and health plans. The goal is to empower patients, reduce healthcare costs, and promote a competitive and high-quality healthcare system.
Key Findings and Economic Impact
Lack of Transparency in Healthcare Pricing:
Historically, hospitals and insurance companies have not provided clear pricing information, making it difficult for patients and employers to compare costs and make informed healthcare decisions.
This has led to increased costs, with patients, employers, and taxpayers bearing the financial burden.
Previous Transparency Regulations and Their Effects:
The 2019 order required:
Hospitals to disclose negotiated rates for all services and provide consumer-friendly pricing information for up to 300 shoppable services.
Health plans to post negotiated rates, out-of-network payments, and actual costs for prescription drugs.
Health plans to offer an online tool for individuals to access pricing information.
Economic analysis from 2023 projected that full implementation of these transparency regulations could yield up to $80 billion in healthcare savings by 2025.
A 2024 report indicated that healthcare transparency could reduce employer healthcare costs by 27% across 500 common services.
Initial price transparency implementation led to a 6.3% annual decrease in the top 25% of the most expensive healthcare service prices.
Challenges in Enforcement:
Since the initial implementation, enforcement of transparency regulations has been inconsistent.
Some hospitals and health plans failed to fully disclose pricing data.
There was insufficient action to enforce price disclosure requirements for prescription drugs.
Policy Directives
The order outlines a renewed effort to ensure that patients receive meaningful healthcare pricing information by:
Strengthening enforcement of existing transparency requirements.
Enhancing public access to standardized, comparable pricing data.
Identifying opportunities to expand current transparency regulations to further support consumer choice and cost reduction.
Implementation Measures
The order directs the Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor, and Secretary of Health and Human Services to take immediate action to enhance enforcement and transparency efforts, including:
Requiring the disclosure of actual prices for healthcare services and items, rather than estimates.
Issuing updated guidance to standardize pricing information across hospitals and health plans to ensure comparability.
Enhancing enforcement policies to ensure compliance with transparency rules, ensuring complete, accurate, and meaningful data reporting.
These actions must be initiated within 90 days of the order’s issuance.
Legal and Administrative Considerations
The order does not override existing legal authorities or budgetary functions.
It will be implemented in accordance with applicable laws and budgetary constraints.
It does not create new enforceable legal rights for individuals or entities.
Conclusion
This executive order underscores the administration’s commitment to healthcare price transparency, aiming to provide patients with accessible cost information, encourage market competition, and reduce overall healthcare spending. By reinforcing previous regulations and improving enforcement mechanisms, the administration seeks to ensure that healthcare consumers are better informed and financially protected.
Writer's Note: Summary made with the use of AI tools for editing and quick processing, facts checked against the order before publishing.
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