Health care providers see patients in our exam rooms these days who are struggling with more than just illnesses and injuries. Far too many are also struggling with huge medical bills. To the many factors, including astronomical prescription drug prices and insurance premiums, we now add another driver of rising health care costs: mysterious charges for routine procedures done at a so-called hospital-based setting, even when the location is just an office.
The Minnesota Legislature has taken meaningful steps this year to help lower health care costs by expanding MinnesotaCare to add a public option for residents to buy into and creating a Prescription Drug Affordability Board. But as more hospital mergers and acquisitions loom on the horizon in Minnesota, our elected officials must do more to reduce unfair charges and fees from hospitals.
Read more here: https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2023/10/proliferation-of-hospital-based-fees-has-a-remedy-the-lower-costs-more-transparency-act/
