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One thought: there are other industries which sell services and tools that fluctute in price or are so complex that it is amazing how they can price their produ

One thought: there are other industries which sell services and tools that fluctute in price or are so complex that it is amazing how they can price their products at all - but they do. Just the fact that I cannot get any reliable pricing information for most procedures from health care providers seems strange and might point to the fact that their processes and methods are under no self-regulating forces/pressure. The situation reminds of Florida, 10 years ago, when the parties could not agree on a way to fix schools and the only bipartisan solution possible was to issue grades for the schools. That little "market transparency" started a whole avalanche of changes most of which came as a surprise and all of which have moved Florida ahead ever since. It performs dramatically better now, than it did 10 years ago in almost all assessments (minorities, drop-out rate, avg. Math/Science). I think giving people a choice by posting transparent pricing information is crucial to improving the American health care situation.

novalis78 13y ago
...and btw, to anyone here who is a ruby or php developer and feels very strongly about this topic and likes to help with our project that is trying to change this (pricepain.com/why) shoot me an email, we can need some help.
jellicle 13y ago
A few years ago, I had an agonizing emergent medical condition, for which I headed to the emergency room, and ended up having surgery later that evening. Of course, the cost to me was $0, since I live in Canada and we do it right here. But supposing I lived in your "transparent pricing information" ideal society. How exactly do you suppose I would flip through the ten-thousand page pricing book to determine what brand of surgical gauze I'd like to have used in my surgery, when I'm in 11/10 pain and going to die within a few hours if left untreated? And do you think the other local hospitals would send over their ten-thousand pricing books as well, so I can price-shop? Do you think Dr. Smithers is really worth a 12% price premium over Dr. Johnson, or not? Can you really have a meeting of minds when one of the minds is unconscious from an automobile accident? Please advise.
- deleted 13y ago
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- novalis78 13y ago
  Fair point, but I am not saying a transparently priced system could be established over night nor would its benefits be felt right away by everyone in every situation. However under the assumption that you succeed setting up such a system, price competition and public reviews would continuously lower prices to attract more business whose success function would have to be truly happy patients expressing their health benefits publicly. This would force rapid medical progress and medical innovation such that a future you in this scenario could easily cover said surgery with your catastrophic insurance at the fraction of today's cost and probably with better quality care - because it will be in the clinics/doctors self serving interest to offer you the best possible care for the lowest price ... And in many cases this could just be a side product of a fast paced procedural and technical progress driven by transparency in price/quality which might lead to X-rays actually becoming cheaper or free and not more expansive then when they were invented which seems to be the current models trajectory - amu ing if it was not so sad.

novalis78 13y ago

...and btw, to anyone here who is a ruby or php developer and feels very strongly about this topic and likes to help with our project that is trying to change this (pricepain.com/why) shoot me an email, we can need some help.

jellicle 13y ago

A few years ago, I had an agonizing emergent medical condition, for which I headed to the emergency room, and ended up having surgery later that evening. Of course, the cost to me was $0, since I live in Canada and we do it right here. But supposing I lived in your "transparent pricing information" ideal society. How exactly do you suppose I would flip through the ten-thousand page pricing book to determine what brand of surgical gauze I'd like to have used in my surgery, when I'm in 11/10 pain and going to die within a few hours if left untreated? And do you think the other local hospitals would send over their ten-thousand pricing books as well, so I can price-shop? Do you think Dr. Smithers is really worth a 12% price premium over Dr. Johnson, or not? Can you really have a meeting of minds when one of the minds is unconscious from an automobile accident? Please advise.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
novalis78 13y ago
Fair point, but I am not saying a transparently priced system could be established over night nor would its benefits be felt right away by everyone in every situation. However under the assumption that you succeed setting up such a system, price competition and public reviews would continuously lower prices to attract more business whose success function would have to be truly happy patients expressing their health benefits publicly. This would force rapid medical progress and medical innovation such that a future you in this scenario could easily cover said surgery with your catastrophic insurance at the fraction of today's cost and probably with better quality care - because it will be in the clinics/doctors self serving interest to offer you the best possible care for the lowest price ... And in many cases this could just be a side product of a fast paced procedural and technical progress driven by transparency in price/quality which might lead to X-rays actually becoming cheaper or free and not more expansive then when they were invented which seems to be the current models trajectory - amu ing if it was not so sad.