President Donald Trump issued an executive order on June 24 designed to bring price and quality transparency to health care markets. Larry Van Horn, associate professor of management, law and health policy, and executive director of health affairs at the Owen School, spoke at the White House signing ceremony.
Here’s some of what he had to say: “For years I’ve studied the impact of hidden prices and the impact it’s had on health care markets as well as on American consumers. My analysis suggests that when cash prices are transparent, up-front, in the market, on average they’re 39 percent cheaper than the amounts that third parties pay for like services. “Even when insurance covers the cost, there is, on average, a 300 percent price variation within a market for the exact same services. … But this is bigger than health care.
Lower prices for health care leaves more money in Americans’ wallets and in their paychecks for the purchase of all other goods and services that are important parts of their lives.
Watch a video of the event at vu.edu/vanhorn-ceremony.
(Van Horn’s remarks begin at the 8:15 mark, after he is introduced by President Trump.)