The Trump administration has warned over 500 hospitals, including 42 in Texas, that they are failing to provide the public with basic pricing information. This lack of disclosure is argued to be keeping healthcare costs higher than necessary. Texas has the most hospitals on the list, including facilities in San Antonio, Austin, and the Hill Country. Penalties for non-compliance can be as high as $2 million annually for each recipient that doesn’t create a plan to post clear pricing data. The push for price transparency could particularly impact Republican strongholds like Texas, Florida, Indiana, Alabama, and Louisiana. Full list of hospitals.
Baptist Medical Center in San Antonio and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, among others, have received warning letters. Four hospitals in Austin are also on the list. The warnings are part of Trump's calculated pitch ahead of the November midterms, focusing on the message that his administration is fixing the problem of healthcare expenses. However, critics argue that Trump's negotiated prices on prescription drugs might not produce genuine savings for many Americans with insurance.
Gary Claxton, senior vice president and the director of the program on the healthcare marketplace at KFF, said that while the pricing data is more useful for benefit consultants and others in the sector, the standards in reporting pricing data still create difficulty in making accurate comparisons about the costs and quality of the services being provided. The letters reflect two competing philosophies between Republicans and Democrats over handling the ballooning expense of healthcare, which is also a growing risk for the federal government's own balance sheet.