Crowd-sourcing may bring transparency to medical charges

Trudy Lieberman

Rural Health News Service

In a recent column I reported on an effort in Ohio to bring price transparency to medical services. Ohio state representative Jim Butler had spearheaded passage of legislation that would require healthcare providers including doctors and hospitals to disclose prices for their services. The law was supposed to take effect last summer, but Gov. John Kasich, the Ohio Hospital Association, and other health groups that oppose transparency have stymied implementation. The governor’s budget for next year calls for repealing the law.

Ohio’s law may disappear,...