Tip # 722 - WHY THE DISCONNECT?

Sunday, July 12, 2026

“Surging” health insurance premiums made headlines again this week, as ACA Marketplace Insurers proposed a median increase of 14% for 2027. That’s down from 20% for 2026. (Hey, have they retired “skyrocketing?!”)

It was a local headline, however, that piqued my interest: ‘11 Hospitals Cited for Price Transparency Violations.’

Why?

CMS Price Transparency rules (summarized HERE) took effect years ago. I’m under the impression there’s a ton of pricing data out there. Those 11 must be outliers.

Let’s take a look. (Note. This is going to take w-a-a-a-a-a-a-y more than 30 Seconds!)

Start by entering ‘[YOUR Favorite Local] Hospital Price Transparency’ into your search engine. Wow! It’s really there; some less opaque than others.

If you’re covered by an Employer Sponsored Health Plan, check out the Member Portal of your insurer.

Want to find an aggregator that compares prices across multiple systems?  

The Health Care Bluebook has been around forever. Newer players in this space are Turquoise Health and FAIR Health Consumer, to name just a few.

Keep searching. There's lots more.

So much transparency out there, yet premiums are still “surging.” 

(Deep sigh!)

Oh, well. Pass the cheese curds and IPA.