> sounds like a solvable problem Every problem, including death can be solved if enough effort is put into it. The question is which problem is worth solving.

> sounds like a solvable problem Every problem, including death can be solved if enough effort is put into it. The question is which problem is worth solving. The problem of price transparency is just not worth solving - because the main issue people have with healthcare in the U.S. is the price. No one complains that they got better after going to the E.R. People complain that they got their wages garnished by a collection agency after going to the E.R. Shopping for the cheapest price might feel like a solution, but if you really think about it, it's really not. > You would a primary doctor (at a known rate) who would say "You need X, Y, and Z now" and then refer you to a reasonably priced location A few questions: 1. What does the primary physician gain out of telling you that and that too for a known rate which will likely be less than what they can charge for an actual medical consultation? Who pays for it? It's not an office visit - it's a "pricing consultation" and no insurance currently pays for "pricing consultation". They pay for medical necessity visits. Even if you paid for that out of pocket because you have liquidity/cash on hand, which most of the U.S. does not, the primary physician has only so many hours in the day and their time is definitely better served seeing someone unwell/running a fever than helping you haggle pricing. 2. NO primary physician is going to tell you specific procedures of what a specialist is going to do. First, they don't know how. Second, it does not make sense for them to. Maybe they can give a rough idea what you might need. Try asking your primary physician what ointment to put on your rash. Unless they are your childhood buddy, you get a referral to a dermatologist. Even the, they will highly recommend you see a dermatologist (or right now, a lab test because COVD19 can express as benign rashes). 3. We still have not addressed the core issue of why something that costs "EUR x" in most of the EU costs "EUR 500x" in the U.S. The problem of why something in the U.S. costs 400x of what it does in other countries even after accounting for subsidies, is a problem far worth solving.