Consumer Groups Applaud “Patients Deserve Price Tags” Act and Other Health Affordability Bills Passing Senate HELP Committee

07.22.2026 / Statement

The Senate bill follows similar hospital price transparency legislation that passed the House Energy & Commerce Committee yesterday

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In response to the Senate HELP Committee's passage of the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act - the strongest version of hospital price transparency legislation discussed in Congress this year - as well as other policy proposals to strengthen oversight into ownership and other financial arrangements of health care corporations, and to improve access to and lower the cost of prescription drugs, Families USA executive director Anthony Wright issued the following statement:

"For too long, big hospitals have skirted price transparency rules by posting estimates, algorithms, and opaque figures that obscure actual pricing. The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act would end that abuse by requiring hospitals and other facilities to post prices in dollars and cents, without exception. We commend the bipartisan supporters in the Senate HELP Committee for advancing this bill today.

"Price transparency is a key tool in exposing excessive pricing - once the price gouging is exposed, the real work can be done to lower health care costs. More transparency into health care ownership arrangements and private equity's growing influence in the health system is critical for confronting the corporatization of care. Families and patients struggling under unexpected bills and snowballing medical debt deserve so much better than the unaffordable and uninformed choices they face today.

"Patient and consumer groups are pleased that the committee also advanced policies to address prescription drug costs. We appreciate the advancement of proposals to reduce the cost of insulin at the pharmacy counter for patients outside of Medicare, expanding on the success of the Inflation Reduction Act, and other bills that would help generics reach patients faster by removing administrative barriers and reining in big drug corporations' use of sham citizen petitions that often delay generic drug approvals. Collectively, these bills are important steps to lower health care costs for those who rely on expensive medications and improve access to necessary care.

"These bipartisan bills have the backing of a broad consumer and community coalition, which is actively advocating for these solutions in our health care affordability week of action. The passage of the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act, and of a similar bill in the House yesterday, demonstrates the real momentum we have on Capitol Hill to address high costs of health care. Americans are angry about health care corporations' high, inflated and irrational health care prices - but furious that federal policymakers haven't done enough to rein them in. Committee votes are a first step, but now is the time for Congress to finish the job and take these initial steps on hospital and prescription drug prices."