........................................................................................................................................................................................

Health care pricing has been likened to shopping blindfolded in a department store and then months later receiving an indecipherable statement with a framed box at the bottom that says: Pay this amount.

Indeed, here in New Mexico it is easier to find information about the price and quality of a toaster than of a common medical procedure. Because information about price and quality is essential to almost every market transaction, this lack of transparency means that health care is more expensive than it would otherwise be.

The high cost of health care has devastating consequences. Over 62 percent of personal bankruptcies in the United States are attributable to illness and health care debt, up from 8 percent in 1981. Many of these medical debtors are middle-class homeowners, and more than three-quarters of them have health insurance.

Health care costs are also a heavy burden on state taxpayers, with over 27 percent of New Mexicos annual budget going to health care. As health care spending outpaces the growth of the rest of the economy, it threatens to crowd out spending on other priorities like education.

How did we get to this point? A century ago, patients paid directly for their health care and knew exactly what it cost. Since then, the rise of private health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid disconnected patients from the cost of their care.

That situation is predicted to change with the recent trend toward higher deductibles and growing out-of-pocket costs. For example, Bronze health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act have average deductibles of more than $5,000 for an individual and nearly $11,000 for a family.

Economists believe that these higher out-of-pocket costs will cause patients to be more sensitive to prices, which will help contain overall costs. However, this ignores a crucial detail: the lack of transparency makes it impossible for patients to comparison shop for the highest quality, most affordable care.

That is why we came together to co-sponsor Senate Bill 474, which would create a user-friendly website where New Mexicans can find the price and quality of the most common medical procedures.

This idea is based on a recent policy report by the independent, nonpartisan think tank Think New Mexico. A total of 14 states, including our neighbors of Arizona, Colorado and Utah, have already established similar websites. Another five states are actively working to create them.

View original post here:

Bill makes health care prices clear