Efforts to increase health care price transparency through federal mandates have achieved limited patient engagement, with pricing data instead becoming a key tool for industry negotiations between hospitals and insurers. Despite policy requirements in place since 2021, compliance has remained inconsistent and patient shopping for health care remains minimal.
Limited Patient Adoption
When President Trump’s administration required hospitals to post prices online in his first term, the intent was to give patients the information needed to shop for better deals. However, research demonstrates this has not occurred in practice. A 2021 study of a large commercial insurer’s data found that patients who need an MRI typically pass six lower-priced imaging providers on the way to their appointments—because they follow physician advice rather than making price-based decisions. According to health economist Zack Cooper at Yale University, “there’s no evidence that patients use this information.” Patients face several barriers to comparison shopping: medical services are inherently complex and difficult to compare, pricing varies significantly based on individual treatment factors and insurance plans, and the data is often presented in formats “not useful for patients, sometimes buried in spreadsheets and requiring a deep knowledge of billing codes,” according to the American Hospital Association.
Industry Use and Compliance Challenges
Instead of enabling patient choice, the federally mandated pricing data has become foundational for contract negotiations between providers and insurers. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota’s executives note the pricing data is used “to make sure that we are competitive, or, you know, more than competitive against other health plans.” Meanwhile, hospital compliance with transparency requirements has been inconsistent—a study in the policy’s first 10 months found only about one-third of facilities complied. From June 2022 to May 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services notified 27 hospitals they would be fined for non-compliance. In early 2025, Trump signed a new executive order to increase fines for hospitals and doctors failing to post prices, and CMS issued regulations to strengthen enforcement.
Structural Barriers to Transparency
The complexity of medical pricing itself limits transparency’s effectiveness. Two patients might receive similar obstetric care but face very different costs depending on complications requiring additional interventions. Hospital contracts with different insurers vary, meaning costs differ substantially by insurance plan. Additionally, research on transparency policies shows mixed results—a 2024 study of a New York initiative found only marginal increases in billed charges.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.mcall.com/2026/02/28/trump-required-hospitals-to-post-their-prices-for-patients-mostly-its-the-industry-using-the-data/