The affected cabinet members must:

• Require the posting of actual prices of products and services, not just estimates.
• Issue updated guidance or draft regulations to ensure that the pricing information is standardized and easy to compare.
• Issue guidance or draft regulations updating health price disclosure enforcement policies.

"For far too long, prices were hidden from patients and employers, with inadequate recourse available to individuals looking to shop for care," Trump says in the new executive order.

The history: Seema Verma, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during Trump's first term in office, launched an effort in 2018 to require hospitals and health plans to post complete price lists.

Since then, Turquoise and other companies that provide services incorporating the data have complained that many hospitals and plans have failed to comply with the price disclosure requirements or have complied in a way that makes their data hard to use.

One source of friction is the view of some economists and trade groups that, in some cases, price disclosure requirements could do more to help health care providers push up prices than to help patients, employers and benefits advisors hold prices down.

Trump contends that the administration of former President Joe Biden failed to do enough to enforce price disclosure compliance.

Implications: One takeaway is that, like previous presidential administrations, including the administration in place during Trump's first term, the new Trump administration sees the "tri-agency team" that consists of the Treasury Department, the Labor Department and HHS as being in charge of health policy.

Another takeaway is that new health care price disclosure efforts could support health system change initiatives developed by Republicans in Congress. Many Republican lawmakers want to reduce use of insurance to pay for health care bills and increase use of health savings accounts and other personal health accounts, to encourage patients to avoid unnecessary use of health care and consider prices when choosing providers.

New enforcement efforts could also give the Trump administration mechanisms they could use to reward supporters and hurt opponents in the coming months as policymakers negotiate legislation that could affect the employer health benefits tax exclusion and federal spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act health insurance premium subsidies.