This is a guest opinion column

For people who are already working to make ends meet, choosing between paying for medical visits and other critical needs like childcare, rent and groceries can be an impossible choice. But that is exactly what many people here in Alabama and across the country face when they cannot afford medical care. It is a system rife with out-of-control costs and it is time to confront them head-on.

We need our elected leaders to take the necessary steps to help solve the causes that are driving up health care costs. No patient who leaves a doctor’s office should see an unexpected upcharge on their medical bill from a previous visit, but that is exactly what is happening for many health care consumers in Alabama.

It starts with hospital consolidation. A recent article highlighting an analysis from the Physicians Advocacy Institute shows that nearly 70 percent of all doctors were employed by either a hospital or a corporation in 2021. The article goes on to say: “the medical groups were associated with higher prices.” And that is the problem. These new owners of physician practices are driving up costs through unfair medical billing.

How does this happen? When a large hospital corporation takes over private physician practices and a patient goes in for a routine doctor visit at that practice, hospitals can charge higher prices for the delivery of care. The upcharge is solely based on new ownership of the location – not on the care they received.

It is a troubling trend brought on by large hospital consolidation, leaving patients with higher medical costs and exacerbating our nation’s grim outlook on the affordability of health care. Sherry Glied, the dean of the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University, said, “Private equity is like the system on steroids. Every time there is an opportunity for making money, [private equity] is going to move faster than everyone else. And consolidation is the way to do that.” Shame on them for putting profit over patients.

It is imperative that lawmakers take action to combat unfair hospital billing. I’m glad to see that the Facilitating Accountability in Reimbursements Act (FAIR) proposed in the House and the Site-based Invoicing and Transparency Act (SITE) proposed in the Senate are opportunities to crack down on unfair medical billing practices, creating a pathway for site-neutral payment policies that could reduce Medicare spending by a whopping $153 billion.

The support of everyone in the Alabama delegation is necessary to move the FAIR and SITE Acts forward, especially leaders like Congresswoman Terri Sewell who sit on influential committees like the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health.

I look forward to a health care landscape in Alabama and across the country where more patients can focus on improving their health and that of their loved ones, not toiling over unfair hospital bills. The bipartisan work of our lawmakers can help bring costs down for patients through sensible fair billing reform. It is imperative that the work starts now. Alabama families, workers, seniors, and children are waiting to see the benefits of these much-needed cost-savings.

Mallory Hagan was crowned Miss America in 2013 and now resides in Madison, Alabama