Court Grapples With Rule Requiring Hospitals to Reveal Prices

A federal district judge questioned whether the Trump administration can force hospitals to publicly disclose the payment rates they negotiate with insurance companies.

Judge Carl Nichols, an appointee of President Donald Trump on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asked the government Thursday what evidence it has that the rule will lower health-care costs and queried its definition of a standard charge.

“At least hypothetically, a hospital for a particular item, a particular service, might be required by this rule to publish a large number of amounts as standard charges,” he said, noting that hospitals negotiate with ...