Bipartisan Price Transparency Reforms Will Improve Outcomes
Beneficial healthcare change is occurring – in a bipartisan manner too. The reform, referred to as the Transparency in Coverage (Tic) rule, improves the functioning of the healthcare market; and unlike the calls for price controls or increased government distortions, improving the efficiency of the healthcare market can achieve the core goals of promoting greater healthcare affordability and improving the quality of care.
TiC went into effect July 1, 2022. Unique among today’s partisan rancor, the TiC rule was issued under the Trump Administration but finalized and implemented by the Biden Administration. A truly bipartisan effort.
The TiC rule’s purpose is to ensure that “most group health plans and issuers of group or individual health insurance” plans are providing consumers with key pricing information. The essential information plans must provide under this rule is good-faith estimates of the out-of-pocket costs for scheduled in-network medical services. The information must be delivered to patients via “an online price comparison tool”. The disclosure requirements also mandate that the health insurance plan publicly discloses the in-network rates, out-of-network allowed costs, and prescription drug prices under the plan formulary.
Click to read the full article in Forbes.
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