Fighting the aggregated health care monopoly.

Have you ever walked into a doctor’s office with no idea what your visit would cost? Or opened a medical bill after surgery only to discover you owe far more than you expected?

You aren’t alone.

Here in Colorado, one man received estimates from several providers that an operation would cost $1,448. After his operation, he received more bills that pushed the total operation price to over $6,000. In another case, a Coloradan got charged $99 for blood work that should only cost between $8 and $61 according to the hospital’s public price data.

This gaming and confusion in our health care system drives the American people crazy - and we can put a stop to it.

There’s a major lack of transparency in the health care industry that is egregious and unique. When you go to buy milk at the market or a car from a dealership, you can easily compare the prices. But it’s nearly impossible when you need to schedule a surgery.

In 2025, Americans spent $5.7 trillion on health care. Roughly four in ten Americans – about 100 million – owe a staggering $220 billion in medical debt, including 700,000 in Colorado.

In the last 25 years, health care costs have risen by 121%. In the last 5 years alone, those costs have risen by 27.3%.

But we don’t know where all that money is going. Americans deserve to understand why the cost of their health care is soaring. Instead, more often than not, they’re kept in the dark while corporations and shareholders profit.

180 million Americans whose health insurance plans are sponsored by their employers also don’t have access to critical information.

Even some of our nation’s largest employers aren’t able to see what they are paying for health care. These employers can’t fight for lower prices for their employees because they aren’t even able to access the health care cost data for their *own* covered employees.

180 million Americans have the purchasing power to break the monopoly. Yesterday, we took a major step toward delivering that power back to the people.

We advanced our bill, the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, out of the Senate Committee on Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions (HELP) and onto the Senate floor.

Our bill allows patients to know in advance what their health care will cost and shop for the best care at the best price. Employers would finally have access to the data they need to negotiate the best coverage for their employees.

Like we’ve said before, you can’t fix what you can’t see. Our health care system is broken, and we believe health care is a right.

Our push for radical transparency is not a substitute for systemic reform. It’s a precondition for it.

Our bill is stronger than previous attempts at creating transparency and puts real teeth into the penalties if companies don’t comply.

It makes sure Americans know exactly what they are paying for and who they are paying.

It gives Americans the right to a detailed, itemized bill with plain-language descriptions and billing codes of each item or service they receive and requires health care providers, plans, and third-party administrators (TPAs) to publicly share who owns them and what their investment structure.

No more blind payments to unknown investors.

Hospitals that don’t comply will face civil monetary penalties. Fines become steeper the longer the provider is not in compliance and it has the force of law.

If a hospital isn’t following the price transparency rules, it’s barred from going after patients with aggressive debt collection tactics.

Preliminary estimates show that our bill will achieve $75 billion in additional tax revenue through increased transparency and auditing measures. Imagine how many more people could have access to the care they need with these savings.

We need to ensure that Americans can seek medical care without the risk of becoming bankrupt.

We know there is a better future for health care – and sunlight is the best disinfectant.