House and Senate Committees to Vote on Hospital Price Transparency Bills

House and Senate committees are voting this week on bipartisan bills that would require hospitals to publicly post prices for routine procedures. The House Energy and Commerce Committee begins consideration Monday of the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, sponsored by Chairman Brett Guthrie and ranking Democrat Frank Pallone.

The Senate health committee takes up the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act on Wednesday, introduced by Sens.

Roger Marshall and John Hickenlooper. Both bills would replace estimated calculations with fixed prices for schedulable services. They also establish fine structures scaled to hospital size. The House version starts at $300 per day for facilities with fewer than 30 beds and rises to $25 per bed per day for those exceeding 500 beds.

Hospitals accounted for 31 percent of the nearly $5 trillion spent on U.S. healthcare in 2023. Washington Examiner reported the legislation targets gaps in the 2021 Hospital Price Transparency Rule that followed President Trump’s 2019 executive order.

A 2025 order sought to increase compliance. Marshall said the goal is to close loopholes and impose stronger penalties. His bill adds oversight of pricing agreements between hospitals and insurers. He noted the measures focus primarily on advance-scheduled procedures but could extend to certain routine emergencies such as hip fractures.

Marshall, an OB-GYN and former hospital CEO, said listed prices for complications would help patients compare value. “I’m not saying this bill is perfect, but we’ve never made a bigger effort than we have on this bill to get it right,” he said.