Hospitals’ Free Speech Argument on Prices Draws Wary Response

The legal fight over the Trump administration rule requiring hospitals to publicly list their prices and the discounts they give insurance companies is testing the bounds of free speech protections.

Health-care industry groups and two private hospitals are using the First Amendment to try and block the Department of Health and Human Services rule before it takes effect in January 2021. The American Hospital Association, which is leading the challenge, argues the rule unconstitutionally compels each hospital in the nation to publicize on their websites a huge quantity of confidential...