The fact that the never-paid price ever reaches the patient in the form of a bill is the problem. This isn't for lack of pricing data. Hospitals know what they

The fact that the never-paid price ever reaches the patient in the form of a bill is the problem. This isn't for lack of pricing data. Hospitals know what they've paid for procedures previously. Every patient and procedure is different but it's rarely very different. If a hospital has to bill a patient without insurance, what they charge should be pegged to a historical average for the baseline procedure. Forcing us to negotiate puts undue burden on the patient. It's bad enough I have to occasionally call to keep my prices the same for cable and phone services.