The Healthcare Order That Exposed the Industry’s Greatest Scam

In the midst of America’s deeply flawed healthcare system, one of the most revealing executive orders in recent history came from an unlikely source—Donald Trump. Regardless of political leanings, his 2019 healthcare transparency order did something that should have been done decades ago: it pulled back the curtain on how hospitals and insurance companies manipulate pricing to the detriment of the average person. While this order did not fix the system, it exposed a deeply unfair structure that has been gouging Americans for years. The Order That Forced Transparency The executive order required hospitals to disclose their negotiated rates with insurance companies, as well as the cash prices for common procedures. For years, hospitals have been allowed to operate behind a thick veil of secrecy, where patients are billed astronomical amounts with no clarity on how prices are determined. This was no accident—it was the product of a well-designed scheme between insurance companies, hospita...