[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4700 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4700

   To provide for transparency in health care pricing, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 25, 2010

 Mr. Kagen (for himself, Mr. Foster, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Boswell, Mr. 
Loebsack, Mr. Perriello, Mr. Braley of Iowa, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Klein of 
  Florida, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. 
 Stupak, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Pingree of Maine, Mr. Welch, Ms. McCollum, and 
  Mr. Hodes) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on 
Ways and Means and Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for transparency in health care pricing, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Transparency in All Health Care 
Pricing Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. TRANSPARENCY IN ALL HEALTH CARE PRICING.

    (a) In General.--Any and all individuals or business entities, 
including hospitals, physicians, nurses, pharmacies, pharmaceutical 
manufacturers, dentists, and the insurance entities described in 
subsection (d), and any other health care related providers or issuers 
that offer or furnish health care related items, products, services, or 
procedures (as defined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services) 
for sale to the public shall publicly disclose, on a continuous basis, 
all prices for such items, products, services, or procedures in 
accordance with this section.
    (b) Manner of Disclosure.--The disclosure required under subsection 
(a) shall--
            (1) be made in an open and conspicuous manner;
            (2) be made available at the point of purchase, in print, 
        and on the Internet; and
            (3) include all wholesale, retail, subsidized, discounted, 
        or other such prices the individuals or business entities 
        described in such subsection accept as payment in full for 
        items, products, services, or procedures such individuals or 
        business entities furnish to individual consumers.
    (c) Penalties.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services may 
investigate any and all individuals or business entities that fail to 
comply with the requirements of this section and may impose on such 
individuals or business entities civil fines, or other civil penalties, 
as determined appropriate by the Secretary.
    (d) Insurance Entity Described.--For purposes of this section, an 
insurance entity includes a health insurance issuer with respect to the 
offering of health insurance coverage, including in the individual 
market and small and large group market (as such terms are defined in 
section 2791 of the Public Health Service Act), a plan sponsor with 
respect to the offering of a group health plan (as defined in such 
section 2791), and entities responsible for the administration of 
governmental health plans (including the Centers for Medicare & 
Medicaid Services with respect to the Medicare program under title 
XVIII of the Social Security Act, State agencies responsible for 
administration of State plans under the Medicaid program under title 
XIX of such Act, or State child assistance plans under the State 
Children's Health Insurance Program under title XXI of such Act, and 
the Office of Personnel Management with respect to the Federal 
Employees Health Benefits Program under chapter 89 of title 5, United 
States Code).
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