As Donald Trump was fighting with Congress over the shutdown and funding for a border wall, his administration implemented a new rule that could be a game-changer for health care. Starting this month, hospitals must publicly reveal the contents of their master price lists — called “chargemasters” — online. For the moment, these lists won’t seem very useful to the average patient — and they have been criticized for that reason. When advocates have tried to wrest them free, hospitals have argued that they are proprietary information. And, hospitals claim, these rates are irrelevant, since — after insurers whittle them down — no one actually pays them.

Source: New York Times January 21, 2019 18:30 UTC