Commentary: FAIR and SITE Acts Will Help Tennesseans with Healthcare Costs

by Emily Fansler

 

As sensational headlines come across our TV screens, phones and newspapers every day, it’s easy to lose sight of what issues matter most to Americans. This is why it’s more important than ever before that we help our elected leaders avoid the distractions and stay focused on how to help their constituents.

Too many Americans struggle to access quality, affordable health care. The high cost of care can be a difficult burden, especially amidst today’s many political and societal challenges. To put it flatly: the cost of health care is too expensive, and we need more solutions to address it.

The affordability of health care is in particular focus right now during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s a challenging disease that affects so many families in Tennessee and throughout the nation. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Access to mammograms is key for early detection, and any way we can increase access to these crucial screenings should be a top priority. But unfortunately, there are actually cost-prohibitive factors that are weakening peoples’ ability to afford this care.

I believe my fellow Tennesseans will share the same reaction I had when reading a recent Blue Health Intelligence report highlighting why some women may see an upcharge for mammograms this year. The report shows how hospital consolidation over the last 20 years has pushed up the cost of many common medical services. As many independent doctor’s offices have been brought under the corporate umbrella of a large hospital system, patients are being charged more for services at hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) than they were previously for the same procedure. This is true not just for mammograms but for other basic services like chest x-rays.

For example, the report found that a typical commercial payment rate for a mammogram performed in a regular physician’s office is $232. If performed at an HOPD, that price jumps to nearly $360. This unfair price differential is wrong. We cannot let this blatant lack of transparency stand in our health care system today.

Thankfully, our lawmakers in Washington – like Senators Blackburn and Hagerty and the entire House delegation – can fix the problem. There is legislation introduced in the House and Senate right now that zeroes-in on the issue. Tennessee lawmakers in the House should pass the Facilitating Accountability in Reimbursements Act (FAIR), which would create long-overdue fair hospital billing reforms. Our Senators should focus their attention on passing the Site-based Invoicing and Transparency Enhancement Act (SITE) in the Senate – building on the reforms in the FAIR Act and implementing other fair hospital billing policies.

Yes, Every Kid

Lawmakers must recognize that over the next decade, these kinds of reforms could reduce Medicare spending by $153 billion and lower overall patient premiums by $94 billion. Legislators need to take advantage of this major opportunity to crack down on skyrocketing health care costs. This will undoubtedly make an impact in the everyday lives of Tennesseans, making care like mammograms and chest x-rays more affordable and ensuring that no patient has to pay the price for rapid hospital consolidation that’s driving up the cost of care.

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Emily Fansler is a conservative activist from Knoxville, Tennessee. She is a paralegal and is active in local and state politics.

 

 

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One Thought to “Commentary: FAIR and SITE Acts Will Help Tennesseans with Healthcare Costs”

  1. Randy

    The devil is in the details. Government is not always the answer. Over regulation has caused much of the health care cost increase. Along with waste fraud and abuse incentivized by champions of universal health care. This industry along with Academia have a stranglehold on elected officials. the interest in lining their pockets far exceeds their desire to heal or educate. It is beyond time to shine the light on this mess, less the American people continue to fail at self governance. Well done Emily, keep doing your part, our nations future is in the hands of its youth. A lesson that many never learned.

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