To: The Massachusetts State House, The Massachusetts State Senate, and Governor Charlie Baker
Your right to know hospital charges before you get services.
Defend uninsured or underinsured patients rights to a fair market value price and the access to this information before accepting services.
Why is this important?
Did you know some Medical Centers, particularly university hospitals, charge uninsured or underinsured people 3, 5 or sometimes 10 times more than other health centers? Did you know these Medical Centers make it almost impossible for you to find out their prices before you accept to get services? You are being bullied. They assign you the doctor they want, they tell you what to do and where, and then they charge you what they want.
what I am asking in this petition is not impossible: Ohio requires a hospital to make its price information list available free of charge on its web site to any person and post an announcement of the list's availability in each of the hospital's billing offices and admission, patient waiting, and reception areas. New Jersey caps hospital charges at no more than 15 percent above the Medicare payment rate for residents with a gross family income less than 500 percent of the federal poverty level.
what I am asking in this petition is not impossible: Ohio requires a hospital to make its price information list available free of charge on its web site to any person and post an announcement of the list's availability in each of the hospital's billing offices and admission, patient waiting, and reception areas. New Jersey caps hospital charges at no more than 15 percent above the Medicare payment rate for residents with a gross family income less than 500 percent of the federal poverty level.