Insane concert ticket prices have been the talk of the entertainment industry in recent months, but many Americans are more concerned with healthcare prices. Last week, hip-hop artists Fat Joe, French Montana, Rick Ross, and Busta Rhymes teamed up to perform at a “Power to the Patients” advocacy event in Washington DC, bringing awareness to significant issues in the American healthcare system.
The event was sponsored by “Power to the Patients,” a non-profit organization fighting for a more affordable and equitable healthcare system price transparency.
At the event, which was attended by cele French Montana stated that he was involved in the event because he didn’t think that people should be “blindsided” anymore by astronomical healthcare bills, saying that patients “needed prices up front” and that he hoped the event could help the American healthcare system “move forward.”
Rick Ross got on stage and said that people should know if they “gotta sell your house to save your parents” with regard to inconsistent hospital bills.
On the organization’s website, alongside a YouTube video about the subject, Fat Joe explained why he was passionate about the cause, writing:
“We have to change the healthcare system and hold hospitals and insurers accountable to provide more transparency on the price of care. They are charging way too much money and the bills are not even consistent. Somebody could get an MRI for $300 and someone right behind them could be paying thousands for the same MRI. Right now, millions across the country are being dragged into debt because they’re blindsided by the cost of these medical bills. Families are falling apart. People are losing their homes. People are getting bankrupted because of hospital bills and healthcare. Knowing prices is the only way we will be able to lower our costs in healthcare. So, we have to fight for the people. We all have to talk to our politicians and talk to everybody. It’s in the law that hospitals and insurers need to post prices and we all need to know this. I teamed up with Power to the Patients to educate our communities on their rights and help put an end to this injustice.”
More information about the group’s activism efforts can be found on their website: https://www.powertothepatients.org/.
