Wyoming lawmakers should add hospital price transparency to 2026 agenda

One glaring omission from the state legislature’s recently released final list of topics it will consider before the next session is hospital price transparency. It’s a reform that could save millions, improve the health of Wyoming residents and give consumers power to choose the best health care for themselves and their families.

The Hospital Price Transparency Act (HB 121) passed the state House in the most recent session, but it failed in the Senate. It should be revived next year. Consumers on all sides of the political aisle strongly support price transparency because it allows them to make informed choices and fight overbilling. Can you imagine shopping at a grocery store with no prices? Or a clothing store, or any business, for that matter?

As Rep. Daniel Singh – the sponsor of HB 121 – told the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, “If you go to the grocery store, you’re not going to check out eggs and not know directly how much you’re paying for the eggs, right? There may be variance in prices, right? But everyone has to be upfront about how much the eggs cost.”

A study by the nonprofit Patients Rights Advocate found that hospital transparency saved the State of Montana Health Plan $121 million in 18 months, because it exposed out-of-control overcharging and prompted it to renegotiate prices with hospitals at fair rates. Price transparency will also improve human lives.

As the study notes, “Because of the effects incentives have on behavior, price discovery will improve health outcomes and life expectancy. Consumers will know what they’re going to get at what price and act accordingly. Hospitals and health insurers will compete on price, quality, outcomes, and access. When consumers can receive care at market prices and hold hospitals and health insurers accountable, they will stop delaying treatment and get the care they need when they need it.” 

Why should Wyoming wait?

Who doesn’t support price transparency? Hospital executives and their lobbyists at the Wyoming Hospital Association, because they don’t want people to know how much they charge for procedures or the fact that hospitals around the nation frequently charge wildly different rates for the same procedure depending on the type of insurance a patient carries or whether he or she is paying cash.

A 2019 study found that the price for a C-section in Oakland, CA, was 4.5 times as much as one performed in Knoxville, TN; that a common blood test was 25 times more expensive in Beaumont, TX, than in Toledo, OH; and that even in the same region, prices for births, mammograms and other procedures could vary extensively. Subsequent investigations have shown nothing has changed since.

A federal rule does require hospitals to post their prices, but few comply. As another Patient Rights Advocate Study found, only 34.5% of hospitals nationally are fully compliant. The organization analyzed five hospitals in Wyoming – none met all of the criteria required by the rule.

Price transparency is especially critical now, at a time when over 100 million Americans are being crushed by medical debt, health insurance premiums are skyrocketing and life expectancy is declining. Wyoming residents in particular are suffering, as the state has the third-highest healthcare costs in the nation.

Legislators should not keep forcing Wyoming residents to make some of the most important decisions of their lives without the information necessary to make the best choice. The Wyoming Hospital Association could also change course and begin advocating for its patients without legislative action. Either way, the Hospital Price Transparency Act should be added to the next legislative agenda to improve the health, well-being and finances of Wyoming residents and the state’s budget.