> I'd pay more for quality. If I knew hospital X is better at hip replacement I'd pay extra to go there. Recently, HSAs and transparent prices were proposed by

> I'd pay more for quality. If I knew hospital X is better at hip replacement I'd pay extra to go there. Recently, HSAs and transparent prices were proposed by a Marketwatch article on HN. But, assuming you have a average America "Max Out Of Pocket", price transparency over this amount doesn't have the intended effect or perhaps, as you point out, the opposite effect.