Here’s the good news on the transparency of health care prices in Virginia: The Old Dominion is one of the five top-rated states in the country rated by the “Report Card on State Transparency Laws” for its laws and regulations.
Here’s the bad news: We rated a C. We look good only because 45 other states scored F. Maine and Massachusetts laws rated the highest, with Bs.
Price transparency for medical procedures is fundamental for a market-based health care system: Without prices, a market cannot function; consumers cannot shop for medical services. What we have in the United States, and Virginia, may be described as a non-governmental health care system but it is not a market-based system.
The way we frame the debate over healthcare in the United States largely determines the policy outcome. Obamacare has sucked up all the oxygen in the room. Here in Virginia, the healthcare debate has fixated on the Medicaid expansion envisioned by Obamacare. Maybe we’ll get a bigger Medicaid program, maybe we’ll get bigger subsidies for poor peoples’ health plans. Whatever the result, the focus is on who pays and how much. It’s a zero-sum game: Some people win and others lose. The debate is not how to empower consumers to become better buyers of healthcare. The debate is not about how to improve the productivity and quality of Virginia’s healthcare system.
We Virginians lack the imagination and creativity to come up with anything better. I guess we get the government and health care system we deserve.
— JAB
