Tennessee Rep. Robin Smith was in Washington, DC, on Monday afternoon when President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing agencies of his administration to develop and implement policies to bring better transparency on healthcare prices and improve access to this critical information so patients can make the best health care decisions for themselves and their families.
White House officials extended an invitation to Rep. Smith to participate in the presidential signing ceremony following her successful sponsorship and passage of the Tennessee Right to Shop Act.
“I’m honored to join a group of leaders to witness the signing of a directive to begin reconstructing the health care market rather than remain focused just on health insurance,” said Rep. Smith, who was the primary sponsor of the Tennessee Right to Shop Act that goes into effect in January 2020.
She said, “In Tennessee, we successfully passed legislation to start addressing the lack of price transparency so patients can know, up front, the various prices of a medical procedure. It’s truly commonsense that having better access to the actual cost of services will equip patients with important information so they can shop and find the best value – which, in turn, will help drive costs down and make health care more accessible to all patients.”
The Tennessee Right to Shop Act allows individuals to access a member portal in their insurance plan to shop and compare several health care services to get better value while they meet their deductible and pay out of pocket for health care services with an incentive program provided by insurance companies to share the cost savings. The new law is part of the Tennessee House CARE Plan - a package of legislation focused on increasing consumer protections, providing better access for patients to receive needed health care, addressing rural health needs and empowering patients to make medical decisions instead of insurance companies or government – each of which benefit all Tennesseans.
“During my first term in the House, I worked to fulfill a campaign promise to empower patients and restore Tennessee's healthcare market to be consumer-driven, not a health insurance market that puts another bureaucracy in control of our health care services. Tennesseans win as our state leads the country in putting them back in charge of their health care,” said Rep. Smith.
Rep. Smith said, “The work we are doing at the state is a great start for the federal government to use as an example of innovation and corrections of the market on this critical issue. It is an honor to participate in this event, share the results of our successful efforts and give folks a glimpse of the great work happening in Tennessee.”
As a representative of state initiatives to address price transparency in health care, Rep. Smith was to participate in a question and answer media session with members of the national media at the White House prior to the signing ceremony.