SEN ROGER MARSHALL: Trump medical transparency initiative could save $1 trillion

Bipartisan legislation seeks to force hospitals to post actual prices before treatment, citing potential $1 trillion savings as patients drown in medical debt.

Republican Roger Marshall, M.D., represents Kansas in the U.S. Senate. Previously he was the congressman for Kansas’ 1st District. Prior to Congress, Dr. Marshall was a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist in Great Bend, Kansas. He received his M.D. at the University Of Kansas School Of Medicine in 1987.

That's exactly what our "Patients Deserve Price Tags" bill is designed to do. It makes hospitals, surgery centers, imaging centers and labs post their actual prices – real dollars and cents – before a patient ever walks through the door. No more blank checks. No more guessing. It turns patients back into consumers, and that matters more than people realize.

Healthcare is the only industry in America where we've stripped out consumerism entirely – where we've decided that you don't get to know the price before you buy. Every other market in America works the same way: when consumers can shop, and providers have to compete, prices come down. Every single time. There is no reason health care should be any different.