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U.S. Sen. Rand Paul Unsure Increasing Transparency for Health Care Costs Will Reduce Prices

J. Tyler Franklin

U.S. Senator Rand Paul said he wants to see lower prices and more transparency in the health care industry, but he doesn’t support the methods being used by President Trump.

Trumprecently signed an executive order to increase pricing transparency for patients before they receive healthcare services. The order aims to bring prices down by letting people shop around. 

 

Paul, a Republican from Bowling Green, said that’s not exactly how the health care market works. 

 

“So in our current system if we dictate transparency I don’t know that anything changes. We’ll all know the price of things but still, the consumer won’t care unless the consumer pays for things,” he told WKU Public Radio. 

 

Paul said simply knowing more about health care costs won’t create an environment where prices will go up and down.

 

“We lack a real marketplace. So what I’ve been saying all along is people who want to mandate transparency, their heart’s in the right place, they haven’t necessarily thought it through though.” 

 

Paul said the country needs a marketplace where prices are competitive and the consumer chooses based on price. 

 

The executive order from Trump doesn’t spell out specific actions to increase the transparency of health care costs, but directs the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a policy.

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