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Have you gotten a medical procedure recently only to be floored by the bill that arrives in the mail after the fact? As Matt Galka tells us, this is all too common for Floridians, and lawmakers want it to change.

Last year, Medicaid expansion and providing coverage for the uninsured derailed Florida’s legislative session. Opposing lawmakers said there were better ways to provide affordable healthcare

Senator Rob Bradley and Representative Chris Sprowls introduced one of those options Monday.  Their bills would require hospitals to publish their procedure prices online.  Bradley says too many of his constitutents have suffered sticker shock.

“What this bill is about is information, a consumer, wherever they live in Florida, needs to have real information about price and quality. And obviously price and quality is not uniform throughout the state,” said Sen. Bradley (R-Fleming Island).

Senate President Andy Garidner says the proposals don’t tackle the main issue: coverage for the uninsured

“At the end of the day it’s about the uninsured and letting them have access, and so we’re involved in all of them, we’re not just going to say no, but we also believe especially on transparency, it should be across the board,” he said.

The Governor says he isn’t quite ready to back the bills because they don’t go far enough. Governor Rick Scott says Floridians need pricing transparency, but he says hospitals should be punished for price gouging.

“Hospitals are charging more than they should charge for a service. That’s not right, there should be required transparency so you can make a good decision on your own, but if you’re price gouged there should be tough penalties,” said Scott.

The bill sponsor’s said making price gouging a crime isn’t something they’re focused on.

The Florida Hospital Association says they support price transparency and would like to reach “common ground” with lawmakers. Here’s there full statement:

“Florida hospitals support price transparency and are committed to helping patients understand the cost of their care. We stand ready to work with lawmakers in the House and Senate to find the best approach to give patients meaningful information about the cost and quality of their health care. We believe there’s room to find common ground on the proposed legislation. And, this week, we’re launching a new section on missiontocare.org to display hospital price and quality data in a publicly available, easier-to-use format.”