A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a White House-backed rule to require hospitals to disclose the prices they negotiate with insurers for an array of tests and procedures.
The 2-0 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a victory for President Donald Trump's effort to make health care pricing more transparent so patients can be better informed when deciding on treatment.
The American Hospital Association and other hospital groups had challenged the rule, which was issued in November 2019 and is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2021.
They said it would require them to divert scarce resources to the "herculean" and "inordinately costly" task of compiling health care costs, while reducing competition and causing confusion about patients' out-of-pocket expenses.
Circuit Judge David Tatel, however, said concerns about the burdens "miss the mark," and pointed to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar's findings that greater disclosures would benefit the "vast majority" of consumers and likely result in lower - not higher - prices.
"The Secretary weighed the rule's costs and benefits and made a reasonable judgment that the benefits of easing the burden for consumers justified the added burdens imposed on hospitals," Tatel wrote.
The elites want healthcare for me and not for thee.
That's been their plan since the beginning. They want the plebes ambulatory but not long lived and healthy enough to challenge them.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a White House-backed rule to require hospitals to disclose the prices they negotiate with insurers for an array of tests and procedures. The 2-0 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a victory for President Donald Trump's effort to make health care pricing more transparent so patients can be better informed when deciding on treatment.
The American Hospital Association and other hospital groups had challenged the rule, which was issued in November 2019 and is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2021.
They said it would require them to divert scarce resources to the "herculean" and "inordinately costly" task of compiling health care costs, while reducing competition and causing confusion about patients' out-of-pocket expenses.
Circuit Judge David Tatel, however, said concerns about the burdens "miss the mark," and pointed to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar's findings that greater disclosures would benefit the "vast majority" of consumers and likely result in lower - not higher - prices.
"The Secretary weighed the rule's costs and benefits and made a reasonable judgment that the benefits of easing the burden for consumers justified the added burdens imposed on hospitals," Tatel wrote.