This is what's so strange about the system. There is no "price sheet" because it's all funny money until the consumer gets billed. Perhaps the doctor would not

This is what's so strange about the system. There is no "price sheet" because it's all funny money until the consumer gets billed. Perhaps the doctor would not know, but the hospital should have a price sheet for every routine service rendered. Those edge cases that are not routine procedures should have estimates provided in advance. For those edge cases that are so time sensitive that an estimate cannot be provided to the consumer in advance... well, that's what insurance is for.