'Best doctor for lowest cost': Trump's 'radical' change to healthcare costs

Executive order mandates hospitals, insurers disclose actual prices, ensuring affordability and accountability in the US healthcare system

In a bid to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order mandating "radical" price transparency in the healthcare system to "empower patients with clear, accurate, and actionable healthcare pricing information", the White House said on Wednesday.   "The order directs the Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services to rapidly implement and enforce the Trump healthcare price transparency regulations, which were slow walked by the prior administration.The departments will ensure hospitals and insurers disclose actual prices, not estimates, and take action to make prices comparable across hospitals and insurers, including prescription drug prices. The departments will update their enforcement policies to ensure hospitals and insurers are in compliance with requirements to make prices transparent," said White House in a post on X (formerly Twitter). 

White House emphasised that hidden healthcare prices benefit corporate entities like hospitals and insurers at the expense of American patients. Citing economic analyses, White House highlighted that fully implemented transparency regulations could save consumers, employers, and insurers up to $80 billion by 2025. The initiative could also help employers cut healthcare costs by an average of 27 per cent on 500 common medical services.

 

The Biden Administration faced legal challenges in 2023 for allegedly failing to enforce prescription drug transparency rules. Trump’s order seeks to hold insurers accountable, ensuring they comply with transparency requirements.  "While the prior Administration failed to prioritize further implementation and enforcement of these requirements, President Trump is delivering on his promises to make the healthcare system more affordable and easier to navigate for patients," White House said in his statement.  According to the White House, almost 95 per cent of American patients are fed up with the status quo and deem healthcare price transparency an important priority.

 

Trump said, "Our goal was to give patients the knowledge they need about the real price of healthcare services. They will be able to check them, compare them, go to different locations, so they can shop for the highest-quality care at the lowest cost. And this is about high-quality care. You are also looking at that. You are looking at comparisons between talents, which is very important. And then, you are also looking at cost.  And, in some cases, you get the best doctor for the lowest cost. That is a good thing."