Bipartisan team introduces Patients’ Right to Know Act

WASHINGTON -- Republican and Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced H.R. 4803, the Patients’ Right to Know Act, on March 10, 2010.

Introduced by U.S. Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas), Gene Green (D-Texas), Michael Burgess( R-Texas) and Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), the Patients’ Right to Know Act is a bipartisan health reform proposal designed to empower consumers with the information they need to make decisions about their health care.

The lawmakers offered a similar amendment during the committee’s September markup of the House health care bill. It passed 51-0.

"Consumers need to make rational, cost-effective choices; but how can anybody do that without actually knowing the real price of their care?" asked Barton, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "Even the most careful and attentive patient can’t be expected to understand that the $100 'mucus recovery system' on a hospital bill is, in fact, $2 worth of Kleenex. Let’s stop that."

Stupak, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, noted the bill will provide patients with access to critical information about the cost of health care services .

"Consumers deserve straightforward answers about what services their health insurance plan and medical providers cover and what their out-of-pocket costs will be, as well as notification when those costs change. This is commonsense, bipartisan legislation and I am pleased to join my colleagues in introducing the Patients’ Right to Know Act."

Click here for a copy of the bill.