A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
You're probably used to hearing rapper Fat Joe like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL THE WAY UP")
FAT JOE: (Rapping) Nothing can stop me. I'm all the way up.
MARTÍNEZ: But the big man from the Bronx is also a health care advocate.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FAT JOE: Right now, millions of people are getting robbed and not by the guys you might think, but by hospital and insurance company executives. They crooks.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Fat Joe in a PSA by Power to the Patients, an organization that wants health care providers to be transparent about their pricing. We talked to him about his visits with lawmakers to try and make that happen.
FAT JOE: I remember walking into Capitol Hill, a young lady, a journalist - she met me at the step. She said, Fat Joe, what are you doing here? And I told her about price transparency. And she was like, well, you know, nothing gets done here. This is Washington, D.C. Like, what are you doing here?
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
FAT JOE: And I said, well, you know, if hip-hop ever listened to guys like you, we wouldn't exist 50 years later. We're going to go in there, and we're going to make change. So we met with one politician. We went back the next year. We met with 30 politicians. This past year, I went back and met with 90 politicians. So this is something that's very bipartisan, and it's something that affects all of the American people.
MARTÍNEZ: So tell us why should hospitals be required to put prices for services somewhere public where people can see them.
FAT JOE: Well, there's a rule now Donald Trump put into play as a matter of fact, but it's not being enforced. Anything else we do in the world comes with a price, and we know exactly what it is. What is the mystery of the hospitals that they can't tell you the price of the procedure? You could look at the three leading hospitals in your area. The discrepancy is incredible. Somebody's going to have an MRI for $1,200. Someone's going to have it for $8,800. Someone's gonna have it for $40,000. So you get to choose what hospital you want to go to to have the procedure done.
MARTÍNEZ: So the legislation that you want to see pass would make health care providers show that price for the different procedures. It doesn't necessarily do anything to give power to patients to help lower prices. Does it go far enough?
FAT JOE: It will because now that they present the price, it'll create a competition.
MARTÍNEZ: You attended President Biden's State of the Union address in March. What do you want to see from him when it comes to price transparency in health care?
FAT JOE: I want to see them all pass the law that Senator Braun, who's a Republican, and Bernie Sanders, who's an independent Democrat, are putting forth. And when it comes to the president, I want him to be proactive about it.
MARTÍNEZ: How much of a difference do you think it would make if former President Trump wins in November?
FAT JOE: We live in a democracy. So if Donald Trump becomes president, then we got to deal with him to get it done. This ain't about Republican. This is - ain't about Democrat. This is about the people. And so when I went to the president's address, I snuck into the Republican dinner they had with the Speaker of the House Johnson, and he turned around and said, Oh, my God, Fat Joe, you're giving me street cred. And I was like, what's up, man? And we took some pictures, talked to all the Republicans in there. And then I went to the Democrats' side and met with Hakeem Jeffries and everybody else. And so when you're trying to get progress for the people, you got to be able to deal with the Democrats and the Republicans.
MARTÍNEZ: Fat Joe, you didn't sneak in anywhere. They knew who you were. They're like, let him in. That's Fat Joe. Just let him get in.
FAT JOE: No, I'm not going to lie. They showed me love. We hung out.
MARTÍNEZ: That is rapper and health care activist Fat Joe. Thanks a lot.
FAT JOE: Thank you so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHAT'S LUV?")
FAT JOE: (Rapping) Number one - what's love got to do, got to do with it, babe? What's love - it's about us, it's about trust, babe. What's love?
MARTÍNEZ: Tomorrow, in our We, the Voters, series, what voters are thinking about health care.
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