Weakened hospital price transparency bill could get vote in Ohio Senate committee [Video]

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Senate could vote this week on a watered-down version of a House-passed bill requiring hospitals to clearly and simply tell prospective patients what a given service will cost.

This week, the Senate Small Business and Economic Opportunity is scheduled for a “possible vote” on House Bill 49. The bill, as passed by the House nearly a year ago in a bipartisan 89-5 vote, would require hospitals to post on their website a master price sheet for all services offered, and another more user-friendly price list for hundreds of their most common elective procedures. Those prices would be further broken down by how patients pay for their care: through insurers or in cash. Noncompliant hospitals would be prohibited from hiring collectors or suing patients over unpaid bills.

Much of the disclosure requirements in the state proposal are already mandated by federal law. But critics say the federal law …