The government shutdown fight has brought America’s outrageous healthcare costs back to the top of the news cycle. One of the fastest, most straightforward steps Washington can take to lower them meaningfully is publishing the Medicare rates it pays for patient care.

This information can empower employer health plans to negotiate better prices with providers and enable patients to avoid overcharges. Medicare price transparency can also provide grounding for a competitive healthcare marketplace that puts downward pressure on costs.

Medicare pays more than $1 trillion (or 21%) of the nation’s $5 trillion of annual health expenditures, the vast majority of which is for direct healthcare services, including hospitals, professional services, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment and o

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