My reasoning still applies, though. My spouse wasn't going to base her decision on who should fix her torn ACL based on cost, no matter what the price differenc

My reasoning still applies, though. My spouse wasn't going to base her decision on who should fix her torn ACL based on cost, no matter what the price difference. If you have life-threatening cancer, do you go to the cheapest oncologist, or the one you think is mostly likely to save your life? The real financial decision isn't on price comparison, but rather whether or not to get the treatment at all. I made a cost-based decision on treatment a while back. I was being treated for an eye problem where I was at risk of permanent blindness in my right eye. Treatment involved monthly injections of a quite inexpensive drug (about $27 iirc), that was inexpensive because it was developed for other, more common conditions and had been around for a long time. My doctor wanted to try a new, specialized drug, hoping for better results. It cost $8000 a dose. With 90% coverage, I would have been paying $800/mo out of pocket. I decided to stick with the cheap drug that seemed to be working. But that's the sort of cost difference that matters, not the "This doctor is 5% cheaper!" dream of idealized free markets.