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TOPEKA — A bill that would require health care providers to make it easier for consumers to find out the cost of health services was discussed Tuesday in the House Health and Human Services Committee.

House Bill 2288 would require medical providers to respond in a timely manner when they receive written requests from patients seeking cost estimates for elective and non-emergency health care services.

Supporters said the bill could help reduce the overall cost of health care by helping patients make more informed decisions and by promoting free market competition.

Rep. Gene Rardin, an Overland Park Republican, said he became concerned about the issue after hearing from a constituent.

The constituent, he said, had a high-deductible health insurance plan. When his wife became ill, he started calling providers to compare costs for her lab tests.

"He was stymied by the providers and his insurance company, neither of whom would provide him with the information to make a decision that he as a consumer needed," Rardin said.

Rardin introduced a similar bill, HB 2291, which is more specific than the one introduced in the health committee. It spells out various providers, tests and other services that would be affected by a statewide cost transparency act.

Both bills, he said, would be a "step in the right direction."

Dr. Steve Miller, a retired surgeon from Parsons representing the AARP, said he supported the bill's concept but making it work would likely be difficult.

As a surgeon, he would know what his fee would be. But he wouldn't know how much the lab would charge for blood work before the surgery or what the anesthetist would charge or the cost of any other service outside of his own work.

"For me to predict the total bill - I don't have that ability," Miller said. "Federal anti-trust laws prohibit one medical entity from talking to another medical entity about charges. It's against the law."

Spokesmen for the state's hospital and physician groups said for the concept to work then patients would need to be provided a full, "meaningful" picture of charges.

For that to happen, they said, insurance companies and others would alsoneed to be involved.

"Simply telling patients what a physician's fees are for common procedures still doesn't let patients know what their ultimate financial responsibility is unless insurers also disclose how much they will pay for the course of treatment," said Jerry Slaughter, executive director of the Kansas Medical Society.

Marlee Carpenter, of the Kansas Association of Health Plans, said insurance companies had made "great strides" towards becoming more transparent with cost information, particularly as it relates to a consumer's out-of-pocket costs.

But, she said, any legislation that mandated a certain form of communication - written responses, for instance - could increase the cost of health insurance.

"KAHP members have invested in Web-based tools in which members can access cost information," Carpenter said. "In addition, customer service telephone lines have been established in which consumers can call to access this information. Insurance companies have invested heavily in these tools which will provide their members better access to information affecting their health care dollars."

Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, the committee's chairwoman, said she had the bill drafted as a "skeleton" and that it likely would be amended when the committee worked the bill.

Landwehr has held a series of informal "roundtable" discussions this legislative session involving various members of the health care and insurance industries with the goal of finding ways to reduce health care costs.