Policy & oversight

Senate Health Panel Votes 21 to 1 to Advance Bill Requiring Hospitals and Labs to Publish Negotiated Prices

The bipartisan Patients Deserve Price Tags Act cleared the Senate HELP Committee on July 22, 2026, and would require hospitals, surgery centers, imaging facilities, and labs to publicly disclose what they actually charge insurers and patients.

By the Goodsurance editorial teamJuly 22, 2026

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee voted 21 to 1 on July 22, 2026, to advance S. 2355, the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, to the full Senate. The bill is sponsored by Senators Roger Marshall and John Hickenlooper with backing from 13 Democrats and 12 Republicans. It would require hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, and clinical laboratories to publish gross charges, negotiated rates, cash prices, and insurer-specific payment amounts quarterly. Health plans would also be required to disclose their negotiated provider rates.

Current federal price transparency rules, in effect since 2021, require hospitals to post machine-readable price files. Compliance has been inconsistent, and patient advocates have noted that the files are often difficult to interpret. The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act would extend requirements across more care settings and add consumer-friendly presentation standards.

For Medicare beneficiaries, clearer pricing could help when comparing out-of-pocket costs across hospitals, surgery centers, and labs, particularly for scheduled procedures where cost sharing varies by facility type. The bill still requires a full Senate vote and reconciliation with any House companion before it could become law.

In plain words

A Senate committee voted 21 to 1 to send a price transparency bill to the full Senate. The bill would require hospitals, surgery centers, labs, and imaging centers to post their prices four times a year, including negotiated insurance rates. Health plans would also have to share their rates. Current rules require some price disclosure, but the files are often hard to read. If this bill becomes law, Medicare patients could use the information to compare costs before scheduling care.

Understand the basics first

Source: Congress.gov
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