ALEC Policy Champion: Rhode Island Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz Delivers Hospital Price Transparency

One of ALEC’s Essential Policy Solutions for 2024 is bringing more price transparency to health care. This week, we’d like to recognize policy champions who are working to make that goal a reality. An ALEC policy champion not only embodies the ALEC principles of free markets, federalism, and limited government, but also advance principled policy solutions in their states.

Rhode Island Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, along with a bipartisan coalition including Senators Picard, Ciccone, F. Lombardi, Burke, Lombardo, Paolino, Raptakis, DiMario and Rogers, worked to bring more transparency to hospital pricing by sponsoring S. 2078. Similar to ALEC’s Hospital Price Transparency Act, S. 2078 requires hospitals to post prices in an easily accessible, electronic, machine-readable format. It also gives the health department or health authority in that state the responsibility of monitoring compliance with these requirements. Senator de la Cruz was also named to the ALEC 50 Under 50 list, which recognizes the best and brightest young leaders from across the nation.

Creating a free market for health care is impossible until we actually know what health care costs. Providing this information to consumers allows them to shop for health care services as they would any other product or service. It also allows for incentives like right to shop programs which rewards consumers for saving money by allowing them to keep part of those savings.

S. 2078 passed with a rare bipartisan vote and became law without the governor’s signature in late June. ALEC is proud to recognize Senator de la Cruz and her fellow senators as policy champions for their efforts to ensure consumers have the information they need to make good decisions about their health care.