> If patients had the ability to know expected prices beforehand, market forces would work to bring prices down. This would only really work if it were legal f

> If patients had the ability to know expected prices beforehand, market forces would work to bring prices down. This would only really work if it were legal for hospitals to compete on price and for better/cheaper hospitals to expand and capture extra business thereby driving worse/pricier ones out of business. Which it's not. In any other industry if local providers provide crappy service at ludicrous prices you can open a competing service across the street and steal all their customers. And companies do just that - you get competing gas stations and competing burger joints right across the corner or across the street or just down the street. But hospitals generally need to PROVE their entry to the market WON'T harm the existing players, or they aren't allowed to open or expand facilities. Which means no price competition, no price wars...and no transparent pricing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_need https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificate_of_need