The information issue with healthcare and education is even more perverse than in "Market for Lemons" - it's not that the quality of the product is unknown (alt

The information issue with healthcare and education is even more perverse than in "Market for Lemons" - it's not that the quality of the product is unknown (although it often arguably is), it's that the price is unknown. As the article says, incoming freshman have no idea how much their 2nd through 4th years will cost, just an upper ceiling. They are usually misled to believe their final tuition will be lower than it actually is, skewing their value judgement. Likewise with healthcare, I often get surprise bills from my insurance company for just doing what my doctor instructs me to do. There's a lot of incentive for doctors to do unnecessary procedures without explaining the costs.