Legislation addresses health care transparency
OLYMPIA – Sen. Mark Mullet’s Senate Bill 5265 regarding health care transparency would make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions about how they spend their healthcare dollars and navigate the health care system.
“It’s really hard to make a decision about your health when you don’t know the costs associated with your care,” said Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah. “As I’ve traveled abroad for business, I’ve seen and experienced systems that left no questions about costs and I believe health care consumers in Washington state would benefit from a system that is transparent with its costs.”
Mullet worked with stakeholders and health care groups to get feedback on the bill, which was heard today in the Senate Health Care Committee.
“The feedback I kept hearing is that our system is too complex to have this actually work. I don’t think the complexity of our system should prevent us from trying to make progress on this issue,” he said.
The proposed substitute Senate bill would require physicians and hospitals to display the price that uninsured customers would pay while health care insurance providers would display costs to their members under their plans on their website.
