Hip hop legend Fat Joe has a message for major healthcare institutions when it comes to price transparency: lean back.

Next to prescription drug pricing, hospital price transparency has been a major issue on the policy front in recent years, and poll after poll has shown it’s top of mind for the general public.

Now, Fat Joe and several other hip hop luminaries like Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross, Method Man, French Montana and Chuck D of Public Enemy have partnered with the nonprofit Power to the Patients to roll out a PSA about affordable and equitable healthcare.

In the video, the rap stars call for a healthcare system that is transparent about prices to pave the way for a more equitable nation.

“Hip hop is an art form,” the 30-second ad states. “But it’s more than that. It’s the consciousness of people. With that comes responsibility. Today, all across the country, hospitals and insurers hide their prices and it’s creating fear, debt and devastation all over this country.”

“We need actual prices in healthcare,” the video continues. “Not averages, not estimates. We need real prices… We demand prices and transparency in healthcare.”

In the longer version of the PSA, the rap legends argue that the healthcare system has been “rigged against us” and call for healthcare executives to make changes with patients’ best interests in mind.

“Hospitals force patients to sign contracts for services, without ever showing us actual prices,” they state. “Stifling competition, overcharging without accountability. If we can’t pay, these same contracts allow them to take everything we own… creating so much fear, that millions of Americans refuse to enter a hospital.”

The PSA builds upon a long-term collaboration between Power to the Patients and Fat Joe, who recently traveled to the White House to advocate for patients for healthcare transparency.

Last year, he also lent his star power to a minute-long PSA again urging healthcare leaders to prioritize price transparency.

The PSA was released at a critical time as congressional leaders consider a new bipartisan bill introduced by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorriss Rodgers, (R-WA). 

The bill would seek to boost price transparency in healthcare through various measures, including requiring hospitals to publish prices for its services and lab testing clearly. The proposal also targets pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, who have been notoriously opaque with some of their drug pricing practices by prohibiting spread pricing.

Lawmakers have increased their scrutiny of both the pharma industry and the PBM sector in recent years, and some efforts have gathered bipartisan support in Congress.

To read a January 2024 article about Wyclef Jean, Fat Joe and Jelly Roll performing for healthcare affordability, click here.