New York tries to improve disclosure of medical costs

KFF Health News reported on the state of New York's recent efforts to encourage the disclosure of medical costs to patients. Many practices require patients to agree in writing to pay for all charges not covered by insurance (requiring patients to sign "blank checks"), and a state law was recently passed to prohibit such practices (especially given that patients often are not presented with actual cost estimates when they are asked to sign those forms). Implementation of the law was delayed indefinitely. However, "Doctors and other providers would still be obligated to have the cost discussion with patients before the patient is asked to sign the form agreeing to pay for the service."

Even though details still need to be worked out, it does seem that there is growing dissatisfaction with the status quo. Very few other industries (if any) have a standard practice of requiring their customers to agree to pay before the customers know the costs of the product or service. While it is true that complications can arise and that can make it difficult for providers to accurately estimate total costs, patients should not be expected to bear all of the challenges of that uncertainty.