Washington, D.C. (June 10, 2026) – Charlene MacDonald, President and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, released the below statement following the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Hearing “Lowering Health Care Costs for All Americans: Examining Policies to Increase Health Care Transparency”: 

“Taxpaying hospitals are committed to transparency – we’ve worked with the administration on transparency efforts, sharing data and insights on factors that impact affordability, and our members have significantly invested in consumer-friendly tools to help patients make informed health care decisions. The reality is that patients’ costs are dictated primarily by insurers’ benefit design and coverage decisions, which is why meaningful transparency requires health plans to provide accurate, real-time information before care is delivered. Further, hospitals should be judged by the care they provide and the outcomes they achieve – not by their ownership structure. Burdensome and duplicative reporting requirements on providers do little to improve transparency or address patients’ rising out-of-pocket costs.”