FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky lawmakers have filed a bill they say would allow consumers to compare prices of medical procedures.

Rep. Cherlynn Stevenson (D) of Lexington is one of the co-sponsors of House Bill 74, which would establish an "all-payer claims database."

"We would be able to look at what a mammogram might cost in Hazard, what it might cost in Lexington, but also in Lexington, what the different healthcare providers would charge for that," Stevenson said. 

According to the bill, databases are already in place in more than two dozen states, and a 2018 federal report "recommended that states 'build consumer-friendly websites capable of displaying price information for the most common transactions.'"

"Most everyone, we compare when we're at the grocery store, when we go shopping for a car ... when we're looking for clothes, we are always looking at that bottom line, which is, how much does it cost?" Stevenson said. "And there's no reason that we shouldn't bring that transparency to healthcare."

The bill is awaiting assignment to a committee.