Proposed Law Can Help Lower Your Medical Costs By Allowing You to Shop Around!

On July 29, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed policies that follow directives in President Trump’s Executive Order, entitled “Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare to Put Patients First,” that lay the foundation for a patient-driven healthcare system by making prices for items and services provided by all hospitals in the United States more transparent for patients so that they can be more informed about what they might pay for hospital items and services.

Included in this proposal is also a redefinition of what “Preventative Care” means. Why is this important? People who have High-Deductible Health Plans usually have to first pay towards the deductible for any service not deemed, “Preventative” while services deemed, “Preventative” have $0 out-of-pocket costs. This is also true for those who have co-pays/co-insurance without a deductible, but the costs usually hit the person with a deductible harder as the average deductible is over $3,000. 

With the new policy, preventative care can be extended to include maintenance care of chronic illnesses. This can save people with these illnesses, tons of money in medical costs. To find out more info, please visit the following links to see which chronic illnesses are covered:

 https://apps.iaatpa.com/Downloads/Paul/IAA.LL.2019.Q3.Update.8.6.19.pdf

https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/cy-2020-medicare-hospital-outpatient-prospective-payment-system-and-ambulatory-surgical-center