Coalition Pushes For Price Competition In Health Care

Florida PIRG is working with allies in the Health CHECK coalition and members of the Florida Legislature to lower medical costs by empowering consumers with the information they need to shop around for better prices. No other sector of our economy has as little information about price and quality as the $2 trillion health care industry.

“American consumers can find all types of cost and quality information about cars, computers, homes and vacation destinations, but this type of rich consumer information is sorely lacking when it comes to something as important as choosing a physician or a hospital,” said Florida PIRG Consumer Advocate Brad Ashwell.

This tradition of secrecy allows health care providers to charge some customers five to 10 times as much as other customers for the same service.

If prices for common procedures were readily available, competition would likely result in lower prices. The Health CHECK coalition is pushing for this reform and others to keep the costs of medical care within reach for all Floridians.