Everclear to perform at healthcare price transparency event ahead of Congressional Baseball Game
Julia Johnson
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Ahead of the 2023 Congressional Baseball Game on Wednesday, Everclear will perform at an event promoting price transparency in healthcare.
Everclear, the 1990s alt-rock band known for hits such as “Santa Monica,” “Father of Mine,” and “Everything to Everyone,” is being hosted at Power to the Patients’s pre-game party to support legislation to expand price transparency.
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For the band’s guitarist, Art Alexakis, this issue is personal. Alexakis was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2016. For him, this was shocking. If the diagnosis weren’t enough, he and his wife were further taken aback by the massive bill.
In an interview, he recalled, “I remember when the bill came, I was out on the road and my wife opened it up.”
“I went through it when I got home after [my wife] basically had an anxiety attack. They were charging me $19,000 for a titanium screw from my back. And $200 for an Advil. There’s got to be more transparency,” he said.
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“Luckily for me because of the success Everclear has had, I have pretty good insurance through SAG-AFTRA, through my union. But one of the things I noticed is that we don’t get to see what we’re paying for when anybody — whether you have insurance or not — goes into the hospital. And I always found that pretty bizarre because it’s like, would you go into a store, like a department store, to buy something if there was no prices?” Alexakis continued.
He added, “I understand about patient’s rights — that’s something that’s very important to me.”
The organization supports legislation in favor of price transparency to create “a more equitable healthcare system.” The event is a part of its larger grassroots effort.
In particular, Power to the Patients is supporting the bipartisan Promoting Access to Treatments and Increasing Extremely Needed Transparency, or PATIENT, Act, introduced by Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ).
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The bill’s purpose is promoting “hospital and insurer price transparency.” In order to do so, it would require hospitals operating within the country to make prices for standard procedures and treatments available, as well as describe its services in plain language on the free list.
The concert will take place at the Bullpen in Washington, D.C., from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.