In the United States, a strong bipartisan consensus has emerged around the need for healthcare price transparency. A 2025 poll found that 96% of Americans across the political spectrum support the idea that patients deserve to know healthcare prices before receiving services.

Congress is making tangible progress to codify this transparency into law, building on various executive orders and rules from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Advocates argue that transparency is a critical first step to fixing the fragmented healthcare market by providing accurate price signals and empowering patients to shop for non-emergent healthcare goods and services.

Currently, prices for the same medical procedure can vary nearly tenfold, even within the same hospital, due to backroom negotiations and arbitrary pricing. This lack of clarity puts patients at a disadvantage and obscures competition.

A study from Brown University estimates that implementing price transparency could save approximately $120 billion over time, with a plausible range between $25 billion and $270 billion.

David Bernstein, MD, PhD, MBA, MEI, a Harvard-trained orthopedic surgeon and fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, highlights that transparency also pressures care providers to justify their prices, potentially leading to increased competition and lower costs.

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