Vast majority of Americans want public healthcare prices

The Voters Voice Poll, conducted Aug. 12-16, surveyed 2,533 registered voters via opt-in online panel and text-to-web cell phone messages. The respondents were comprised of 930 Republicans, 930 Democrats and 673 Independents.  Among independent voters, 330 respondents were classified as true independents, which are individuals who do not lean toward either major party when given the choice. 

Pollster Mike Noble, CEO of Noble Predictive Insights, said requiring prices to be listed for healthcare is a "no-brainer" issue for voters. 

"The big difference is the voters don't have a mega team lobbying arm in Washington," Noble said. 

Only 8% of voters said price transparency for healthcare is either not too important or not at all important. About 5% of voters said it was not too important to disclose prices and 2% of voters said it was not at all important. 

Across demographic groups, voters 65 years old or older and voters with post-graduate or college degrees were most likely to say it is important for healthcare prices to be disclosed publicly. About 91% of voters 65 years old or older said it was at least somewhat important to disclose healthcare prices. 

In July, lawmakers in the United States Senate advanced the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, legislation that would mandate hospitals and insurance providers to publicly report negotiated rates, costs and cash prices for ambulatory services, surgery centers, imaging labs and clinical labs. 

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, a sponsor of the bill, touted its effect on lowering healthcare costs for Americans. He said the legislation would reduce family healthcare costs by $1,000 per month. 

“Once and for all, we’ll force transparency and competition into healthcare,” Marshall said. “It’s going to force healthcare providers to show you the price tag up front, not an estimate.”

Black voters were among the least enthusiastic for price transparency. A large majority of about 81% of Black voters said price transparency was important in healthcare, but that's the lowest across demographic lines of those surveyed. 

Nine percent of Black voters said they were "not sure" about requiring disclosure of healthcare prices. 

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the lone vote against advancing the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act out of committee. He said the legislation does not address fixed prices in the healthcare landscape and would not meaningfully lower costs for patients on Medicare and Medicaid.

“There's only a very small amount of this market that cares about this and these people don't have insurance,” Paul said. “When you mandate transparency on prices that are fixed, [it] doesn't change the situation.”

Noble said passing legislation to mandate price transparency will require political will in Congress. 

"Healthcare price transparency is a near consensus issue," Noble said. "Price disclosure is close to universal. But again, is the political will there? Especially against the special interests."