President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to require hospitals to publicly disclose the cost of healthcare services on Monday.
Trump said that the decision would allow patients to make better choices about their health care and better understand out-of-pocket costs.
“You’ll get much better pricing and you’ll get the doctor that you want,” Trump said at a White House event highlighting the signing of an executive order.
Trump said his order would force hospitals to offer more information to patients about the services that they were paying for so they could search out a better doctor.
“Some rich people may not be too happy about that,” he said.
Two doctors present who spoke at the event agreed that Trump’s decision would help their patients make more informed choices about their care, or else they risk not being treated because of unknown costs.
Trump again warned about Democrats like Sen. Bernie Sanders who wanted to bring socialized medicine into the United States.
“We believe in giving patients choice and freedom and health care, ensuring access to the doctors they want, the treatments they need, and the highest standard of medical care anywhere in the world,” Trump said.
He said that his actions were “truly historic” but questioned whether the “fake news” would agree.
“It’s pretty much going to blow everything away, Alex, as we’ve discussed,” Trump said to HHS Secretary Alex Azar. “People never thought they’d see us do this.”
He said that his efforts on health care would be the “opposite” of Obamacare as he continued to improve the system.
“Once we got rid of the individual mandate it made it better,” he said. “Obamacare doesn’t work, but it at least works adequately now.”
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