Trump Doubles Down on Price Transparency

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On February 25, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO)——calling for “radical price transparency” from hospitals and health plans that will fulfill the promise of his first-term actions on pricing. The EO also directs agencies to issue new rulemaking that will bolster implementation of and compliance with those provisions. The accompanying faults the Biden Administration for “fail[ing] to prioritize further implementation and enforcement” of transparency requirements.  

The first Trump Administration finalized what the EO calls two “paradigm-shifting” rules related to price transparency, which the Administration claims could have saved consumers, employers, and insurers $80 billion by 2025, if properly implemented. These rules implemented a and built upon Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions which required (1) all hospitals to disclose standard charges for items and services, and (2) health insurance issuers and employment-based health plans to publish certain claims policies and cost-sharing information.  

The EO directed the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury (Departments) to issue the following regulations within 90 days: 

• Require the disclosure of the actual prices of items and services; 
• Issue updated or new proposed rulemaking to ensure that price information is standardized and easily comparable across hospitals and health plans; and 
• Issue guidance or proposed rulemaking updating enforcement policies in order to increase compliance. 

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