SB1289 - Patient's Right to Understand Act Introduced at the Press Conference Launching We The Patient

Across Pennsylvania and throughout the country, patients are often expected to make some of life’s most important decisions while navigating a healthcare system filled with confusing language, hidden costs, prior authorization barriers, denied claims, and unclear billing practices.

Too many families are left asking three simple but critical questions:

How much will this cost?

Do I really need this?

Is this decision truly being made within the trusted doctor-patient relationship?

The SB1289 - Patient Right-to-Understand Act introduced by Senator Dawn Keefer was created to bring clarity, transparency, and fairness back to healthcare decisions. This legislation is the very essence of the We The Patient movement. It recognizes that true patient power comes not simply from seeing a price tag, but from understanding the healthcare marketplace itself—how it works, where incentives exist, what options are available, and what questions patients should ask in order to make informed decisions about both care and cost.

While existing price transparency laws focus mainly on knowing the price before a service, this bill goes much further by helping patients understand the full context behind the decisions affecting their health and finances.

The legislation would require health care entities—including insurers, hospitals, health systems, and managed care organizations—to provide patients with concise, plain-language summaries explaining coverage basics such as deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, network restrictions, prior authorization rules, timelines, appeal rights, and estimated out-of-pocket costs for non-emergency services.

These summaries must be easy to understand, prominently displayed, no longer than two pages, and written in everyday language rather than dense legal or technical jargon.

Just as importantly, the bill reinforces a distinction many patients instinctively know matters: insurance coverage decisions are not the same as medical decisions. Medical care decisions should remain between patients and their physicians, while insurance companies should be transparent about what they will or will not cover.

The legislation also requires disclosure of lawful payment and care options, including cash-pay pricing, health savings accounts, employer-funded spending accounts, and out-of-network options, helping patients compare choices and direct healthcare dollars where they best meet their needs.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Senator Dawn Keefer for serving as the prime sponsor of this important legislation, and to Senators Doug Mastriano, Jarrett Coleman, and Elder Vogel for standing with patients as co-sponsors. Their leadership and willingness to champion transparency and patient-centered reform are deeply appreciated.

The SB1289 - Patient Right-to-Understand Act is about restoring trust in medicine by putting understandable information back into patients’ hands. When patients are educated, they become empowered. When empowered, they can engage in better decisions and encourage others to do the same. This legislation supports families, employers, and communities by promoting informed decision-making, stronger consumer protections, and a healthcare marketplace that patients can truly understand.

This is We The Patient! We ask you to Join the Movement because to transform healthcare we need all hands on deck!

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