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919 Prince Street * Alexandria, Virginia 22314 * Phone: 703-518-4445 * FAX: 703-518-4447 566 South Route 303 * Blauvelt, NY 10913 * Phone: 845-365-2000 * FAX: 845-365-2008 www.mclaughlinonline.com
MEMORANDUM
Date: Wednesday, July 29, 2020
To: Republican Leaders, GOP Activists
From: John McLaughlin, CEO, McLaughlin & Associates David Kochel, Principal, Redwave Communications
RE: Healthcare Price Transparency:
A Winning Issue for ALL Americans
Congress has a unique and powerful opportunity to deliver real, systemwide healthcare price transparency to all Americans in this next COVID stimulus package
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a measure that our data show voters overwhelmingly want.
Healthcare Price Transparency Protects Patients, Consumers & Taxpayers
When the consumers of healthcare
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patients, employers, and taxpayers
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are empowered with easy, real-time access to information on price and quality, they will shop in a functional, competitive marketplace. Free market principles of transparency and competition will lower prices, improve quality and outcomes, and spur innovation. There will be no more surprise medical bills. Most importantly, trust and accountability in the healthcare system will be restored.
Healthcare price transparency will deliver an annual savings to our economy of hundreds of billions of dollars
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Healthcare Continues to be a Top Priority
In the 2018 midterms, incumbent Republican candidates learned a valuable lesson: If the
election is about healthcare, you’d better have something you’re for, not just against
. In fact, 2018 showed us that Republicans were teed up to deliver on healthcare policy. They did not and lost the trust of voters. According to exit polls from the 2018 midterm,
healthcare was the top issue for most voters. Of those voters who said it was the top issue, 75% voted for the Democrat candidate for Congress.
After several cycles successfully running against government-run healthcare, when
Republicans were in charge of Congress, Democrats took aim at voters’ frustration and
concern.
While most Members of Congress have taken several votes to repeal and replace Obamacare
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after all, there have been over 70 attempts to repeal, modify, or otherwise curb the Affordable Care Act
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voters have heard the “repeal” message loud, but were never clear on the “replace”
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McLaughlin/Kochel Memorandum Page 2 of 3
As the old adage goes,
you can’t beat something with nothing.
We now have an alternative that is a winning solution
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one that received broader and deeper public support than Medicare for All!
Healthcare Price Transparency Can Be Codified into Law
Today, a growing list of Republican (and a few Democrat) lawmakers in both chambers have seized on an issue that has nearly universal support (88%) among voters in key battleground states and all around the country: systemwide healthcare price transparency.
Healthcare price transparency, requiring hospitals and insurance companies to post their hidden, discounted cash prices and secret negotiated rates, has been championed by the Trump Administration through administrative action and rulemaking. Hospital associations sued to keep their prices hidden and the Administration won, but the hospital lawsuit is now hung up in the Appellate Court. These rules can now be codified into law with The Health Care PRICE Transparency Act (S. 4106), authored by Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) along with Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and seven other senators, and its companion bill, H.R. 7676. This legislation will positively level the playing field in healthcare to be pro-consumer, transform the relationship between doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and their patients, and provide an immediate boost to the US economy. Most importantly, it will put the patient in
the center of healthcare
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at no cost to the taxpayer!
Price Transparency is a Winning Issue in Key Senate Battleground States
To be clear, this legislation simply allows, in healthcare, the consumer to know the price of something before he or she buys it. Understandably, the issue enjoys overwhelming public support. We surveyed voters in several key states that will determine the majority in the US Senate: Maine, North Carolina, Georgia, Iowa, Colorado, Arizona and Montana. Below are our key findings:
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Nearly 90% of voters agree that organizations involved in healthcare should disclose all of their prices to allow patients to determine their best healthcare provider based on quality and knowing the price upfront. There is widespread and nearly universal support (98%) among women under 40, while 95% of voters under 40 believe healthcare providers should disclose their prices.
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Voters understand how markets work. Eighty-two percent (82%) of voters agree that price transparency would lead to more competition, improving quality, and lowering health costs and prices!
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Voters want transparency today with no further delay. There is a strong urgency to pass the Health Care PRICE Transparency into law in the HEALS Act legislation
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Six out of ten voters (58%) want to see it in the next package, while just 31%