Small businesses deserve to know the real costs of the healthcare plans and services they rely on

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Dear Speaker Johnson, Majority Leader Thune, Minority Leader Jeffries and Minority Leader Schumer: 

On behalf of Small Business Majority, U.S. PIRG, and the undersigned small business owners, we urge Congress to swiftly pass the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act (H.R. 5582, S. 2355) to codify and strengthen existing hospital and health plan price transparency rules to ensure that healthcare providers and insurance companies publicly disclose the actual costs of the services they offer. As healthcare costs for small business owners and their employees continue to rise, greater price transparency is essential to help consumers and small businesses make informed, cost-effective decisions about their care. 

Access to affordable, quality healthcare is essential to a thriving small business economy – empowering entrepreneurs to pursue their ventures with confidence and helping small businesses attract and retain skilled employees. However, the rising cost of healthcare continues to eat away at small businesses’ bottom lines, hindering their ability to grow and succeed. In fact, while just roughly 30% of our nation’s smallest businesses can afford to offer some form of healthcare coverage to their employees, our research found that those businesses report cost increases for premiums, deductibles, copays and hospital visits in the past few years.¹ Rising healthcare costs are forcing small businesses to make difficult decisions that ultimately impact their employees, including increasing employee contributions to health plans, switching to more limited coverage options, cutting other employee benefits, or dropping healthcare coverage altogether. 

While there are several underlying causes of the current healthcare affordability crisis facing Main Street, the lack of price transparency in the healthcare industry has kept consumers and businesses in the dark about how much they should be paying for services. This has not only limited consumer choice but also fueled the rapid consolidation of hospital and insurance networks nationwide, reducing competition, driving up costs, and diminishing the quality of care. Small business owners across all industries can only question why they are expected to be transparent about the costs of their products and services, while the healthcare industry continues to operate without that same expectation. That’s why 96% of small business owners say that healthcare providers should be required to publicly post the prices they charge for services, and 88% agree that hidden fees like “facility fees” should be banned.² 

When the true costs of healthcare services are readily available to both consumers and businesses, they are able to better identify more cost-friendly options that are tailored to their specific needs. Being able to simply compare the cost of a healthcare service between two providers can be the difference of thousands of dollars, which goes a long way for the entrepreneurs and small businesses operating on razor-thin margins. 

Small businesses are looking to Congress to stand up for Main Street and deliver relief from rising healthcare costs. We urge Congress to pass the bipartisan Patients Deserve Price Tags Act (H.R. 5582, S. 2355) to establish a new standard of price transparency in the healthcare industry, enhancing consumer choice, fostering competition, and lowering costs for small businesses.