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If the FTC can force Funeral Homes to make their prices public (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Rule), then why

If the FTC can force Funeral Homes to make their prices public (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Rule), then why can't they do the same for hospitals?

mikeyouse 10y ago
Because a funeral is 1 service and something like a birth could be 100 different services with different experts and requirements that are impossible to predict beforehand..
- coreyp_1 10y ago
  I understand that entirely. But not publishing their prices before hand at all seems to me, in a word, deceptive.
  - mikeyouse 10y ago
    In theory, the hospital should be able to provide a minimum price based on the standard order set for labor and delivery -- "If you have a natural birth in the hospital, and you spend 1 day in the room, 2 days in recovery, only use these drugs and receive these tests, your visit will cost $XX." But that isn't really helpful since most births will vary a substantial amount from the 'basic' plan. This gets back to why insurance exists in the first place, if the average price for 10 births is $10,000 -- that could be 10 births at $10k or 9 births at $1k and one at $91k or literally anywhere in between.
    - sportanova 10y ago
      but that data could be really useful - the average cost is $x, the median is $y, and you could do standard deviations too. Or you could give even more detailed info
aroberge 10y ago
In my opinion, your question (and that of the author) are the wrong ones to ask. The right question to ask is: how come people have to pay for childbirth in a hospital in the US when it is free in all other first world countries (and many other countries as well)?
- dTal 10y ago
  I agree with this, but the main point that stuck for me was: how can it possibly be argued that what the U.S. has is a free market, if it's unusual to even seek prices? Forcing providers to reveal their prices beforehand doesn't solve whatever issue brought us here in the first place.

If the FTC can force Funeral Homes to make their prices public (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Rule), then why can't they do the same for hospitals?

mikeyouse 10y ago

Because a funeral is 1 service and something like a birth could be 100 different services with different experts and requirements that are impossible to predict beforehand..

coreyp_1 10y ago
I understand that entirely. But not publishing their prices before hand at all seems to me, in a word, deceptive.
- mikeyouse 10y ago
  In theory, the hospital should be able to provide a minimum price based on the standard order set for labor and delivery -- "If you have a natural birth in the hospital, and you spend 1 day in the room, 2 days in recovery, only use these drugs and receive these tests, your visit will cost $XX." But that isn't really helpful since most births will vary a substantial amount from the 'basic' plan. This gets back to why insurance exists in the first place, if the average price for 10 births is $10,000 -- that could be 10 births at $10k or 9 births at $1k and one at $91k or literally anywhere in between.
  - sportanova 10y ago
    but that data could be really useful - the average cost is $x, the median is $y, and you could do standard deviations too. Or you could give even more detailed info

aroberge 10y ago

In my opinion, your question (and that of the author) are the wrong ones to ask. The right question to ask is: how come people have to pay for childbirth in a hospital in the US when it is free in all other first world countries (and many other countries as well)?

dTal 10y ago
I agree with this, but the main point that stuck for me was: how can it possibly be argued that what the U.S. has is a free market, if it's unusual to even seek prices? Forcing providers to reveal their prices beforehand doesn't solve whatever issue brought us here in the first place.