The HealthCHECK (Consumers for Health Care Effectiveness and Cost Knowledge) Coalition is working to provide consumers have the critical information they need to make informed health care choices. Those efforts paid off with passage of the Affordable Health Care Act in 2004.

A bill approved by the 2008 Florida legislature takes transparency an important step further. The Health Care Consumer’s Right to Information Act will make it easier for Floridians to get advance estimates and compare prices when they are deciding where to go for their non-emergency health care needs.

Now awaiting approval by Governor Charlie Crist, the Act would increase price transparency by:

•  Requiring disclosure of undiscounted prices for the 150 most common procedures.
• Directing the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to post those prices on the Floridahealthfinder.gov website
• Requiring advance, written good-faith estimates for non-emergency hospital care
• Requiring estimates to be written in language comprehensible to the layperson
• Requiring facilities to provide uninsured patients with information regarding any discount or charity policies
• Requiring providers to inform patients covered under Medicare and Medicaid whether their coverage will be accepted as payment in full
• Directing AHCA to include the range of procedure charges from the highest to the lowers charge rather than only the average charge when determining the information to disclose on the Floridahealthfinder.gov website

Please thank your state legislators for supporting this important legislation by clicking here!

The HealthCHECK Coalition is committed to empowering consumers to share ideas, real-life experiences and health concerns with your legislators.