> How this isn't already mandated by law is baffling. It's not baffling if you look at the way the medical billing system actually works. In short, Medicare is

> How this isn't already mandated by law is baffling. It's not baffling if you look at the way the medical billing system actually works. In short, Medicare is able to use existing laws (the requirement that Medicare receive the lowest price, along with the lack of mandate to reimburse COGS) to force providers to use funds from privately-insured patients to cover the costs of treating Medicare patients. From a financial point of view, the biggest adversary of price transparency (for privately-insured patients) is Medicare itself. In that light, it's not surprising that an administration which has been very clear it wants to defund Medicare (without actually admitting as much in those words) is establishing rules that will essentially restrict the effective operating budget that Medicare will work with, long-term.