The movement toward making healthcare prices more transparent to consumers is bound to fail unless the OIG establishes a benchmark for reasonable charges that hospitals and suppliers can submit to Medicare and Medicaid, says Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), chairman of the House’s Committee on Ways and Means, in a recent letter to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt. Thomas is calling for the OIG to finalize a rule it proposed in 2003 that would penalize providers who bill “an excessive level of charges” by ousting them from Medicare and Medicaid programs. Thomas claims that such overpayments to hospitals have cost taxpayers $9 billion over the years. “It is unacceptable that the OIG refuses to move forward on this rule,” writes Thomas. “The OIG apparently chooses to sacrifice the interests of taxpayers over those who wish to keep real prices shrouded in order to gouge the public, employers and insurers."
