Tilleman Comments on CMS' Efforts to Increase Price Transparency in Exchange Plans

Senior Counsel Morgan Tilleman was quoted in an Inside Health Reform article, “CMS Explores Ways To Increase Price Transparency In Exchange Plans,” about efforts to help consumers better understand their cost-sharing responsibilities.

Tilleman said promptly informing consumers about their cost-sharing responsibilities is an excellent idea, though he suggests that doing so would be difficult to implement because of all the data changes required to inform millions of individuals what their specific costs would be. There are a number of factors that go into cost-sharing, not all of which are under the control of the insurance company, and all of that would need to be brought together under some very complex software, he said.

Tilleman also said some features of the exchanges make them a good place to start focusing on transparency, though it is impossible to understate the significant challenges such a policy would entail, even if everyone agreed to it. There is also an enormous risk of bad public relations should an issuer get the information wrong, he added.