HR 9645: Health Care Price Certainty for All Americans Act

HR 9645 in plain English: This bill would require hospitals and health plans to publicly disclose the prices they charge for health care services, aiming to make costs transparent to patients. It sets civil monetary penalties for non-compliance and provides federal funding to enforce the requirements.

Stated purpose

The bill aims to promote health care price transparency by requiring hospitals that receive Medicare payments to publicly disclose their prices and charges for items and services, so patients can know costs in advance.

Key points

• Requires hospitals and health plans to publicly disclose health care prices
• Sets daily penalties for non-compliant hospitals: $342/day for 30 or fewer beds, $11/bed/day for 31–549 beds, $6,277/day for 550+ beds
• Annual penalties for violations can range from $500,000 to $10,000,000 depending on hospital size
• Provides $65,000,000 to HHS and $35,000,000 to the Department of Labor for fiscal year 2027 through 2032 to enforce the law
• Allows the government to waive or reduce penalties, with a separate cap of $300 per day for certain violations

Arguments supporters make

• Patients deserve to know what care will cost before they receive it, just as they do when buying any other service, so they can plan and avoid surprise bills.
• Publicly revealing what insurers actually pay hospitals could create competitive pressure that drives down prices over time.
• Requiring hospital executives to personally sign off on the accuracy of posted prices adds accountability and reduces the chance that disclosures are misleading or incomplete.

Arguments opponents make

• Posting negotiated rates between hospitals and insurers could allow hospitals to coordinate prices upward rather than compete downward, potentially raising costs instead of lowering them.
• Publishing prices alone does not help patients who have no real ability to shop around in emergencies or when specialist choice is limited by their insurance network.
• Compliance burdens — especially for smaller or rural hospitals — could divert resources away from patient care without guaranteeing that patients actually use or understand the disclosed information.

Tradeoffs

Making insurer-negotiated prices public may empower consumers and encourage competition, but it could also reduce insurers' bargaining leverage or enable pricing coordination among hospitals, with uncertain effects on overall costs. Stronger disclosure requirements place new administrative obligations on hospitals, trading compliance costs for potential gains in consumer awareness.

Current status in Congress: In committee.

NewsClear — neutral news & congressional tracking · Bill of the Week