12.10.2024 / Press Release

Families USA: Congress Must Take Action to Rein in Big Hospital Corporations as Part of End-of-Year Funding Package

More than 4,500 people have sent letters to Congress demanding policies requiring same service, same price and health care price transparency

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Congress works to finalize the end-of-year funding package, Families USA is calling on lawmakers to include reforms that will strengthen and improve health care price transparency and require same service, same price regardless of where care is delivered. More than 4,500 people have sent letters to Congress calling for these reforms as part of a campaign launched by Families USA Action, the sister organization of Families USA.

“Americans have just made clear in the recent election that affordability and economic stability is a top priority, so now is the time for Congress to take tangible actions to lower health care costs for our nation’s families,”  said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA. “These bipartisan reforms in Congress are cooked and ready to go to protect patients from being charged more, and to bring more transparency to hospital pricing. Together, we can stop big hospital corporations from their price-gouging practices, such as taking over doctors’ offices and shifting services so they can charge more for the same care. These reforms have the support of both the public and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. It’s past time for Congressmembers to stop listening to the powerful industry lobbyists and start listening to their constituents who are demanding action to lower costs and improve lives.”

Record numbers of Americans (nine of 10) are very concerned about the cost of critical, everyday necessities like food, housing and health care. According to a new fact sheet from Families USA, the affordability crisis in this country is driven in large part by big health care corporations that are increasingly consolidating so they can raise health care costs for everyone and force employers to spend more on health care premiums and less on workers’ wages. Since 2015, hospital prices have increased as much as 31% nationally, now accounting for nearly one-third of U.S. health care spending and growing more than four times faster than workers’ paychecks in that period.

Lawmakers are currently negotiating what will be included in the year-end funding package that must pass before the December 20 deadline. Also referred to as site neutral payment policy, a same service, same price reform was passed by the House of Representatives as part of the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act in December 2023, and it also included measures to strengthen and improve health care price transparency.