Along with the Report Card on State Price Transparency Laws, July 2015, the Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR) and the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute included An Analysis of Popular Legal Arguments Against Price Transparency. This four-page analysis should be useful to journalists covering state legislation designed to improve transparency because it will allow reporters to refute the arguments that health insurers, hospitals, physicians, and other providers make when opposing price transparency laws. Insurers and providers often argue, for example, that pricing information should not be made public because it is confidential by contract (which is often true) or protected as trade secrets (which it is not). In addition, the information that would be most useful is that of the largest insurers and provider organizations and they are often the most successful in keep price information out of the public domain, the report says.
