In A 1913 Harper’s Weekly article titled “What Publicity Can Do,” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis made his famous statement that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants” in arguing for greater disclosure of bankers’ securities commissions to investors. Now, 100 years later, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, hopes to apply Brandeis’ basic idea — that greater transparency leads to better outcomes — to the health care industry.

Many Coloradans have likely heard about Obamacare’s new health insurance exchanges (such as Connect for Health Colorado) that seek to apply an Expediastyle solution to the health insurance market to lower costs, in part, through greater price and benefits transparency. A recent analysis in Forbes found that Coloradans covered in these insurance exchanges could see their premiums drop by an average of 34 percent.

Originally published in Law Week Colorado - September 9, 2013.