It must be challenging to check prices online while you're getting STOMPED ON LIKE A CHIHUAHUA.
Most hospital care is done without the opportunity to plan for it, so no, not really helpful.
More useful is a default system where the government sets a fair price in the absence of any agreement - or even better, set prices routinely across all payers.* California is now setting up an all-payer claims database that would collect the necessary information for reforms like this, and an all-payer price-setting bill failed last year but had legs and is coming back for another pass.
*Pricing is complex enough, with so many thousands of possible services, that it's difficult even for big insurance companies to usefully "innovate"; in Medicare they do the hard work to value services relatively against each other in a way stakeholders can mostly agree on (if still not optimal), so insurers very commonly just specify "Medicare times X factor" as their rate - or else simpler methods like payments per diem or per capita.
California also sets some prices already as part of its regulations to prevent surprise billing by out-of-network providers at in-network facilities. When it's not an emergency service (think anesthesiologists at surgery centers), the state collects data to establish an Average Contracted Rate, and limits the provider to collecting no more than ACR or 125% of Medicare (whichever is higher) from the insurer.
It costs several thousands of dollars to have a baby in the hospital, but the baby gets a free hat.
It costs extra if you want the dolphin tank.
4: There's no such thing as a free hat
4: There's no such thing as a free hat
9: No. Each comment costs approximately .01 rat orgasm. Because the time spent typing a comment could have been spent pleasuring a rat.
Somebody doesn't have voice typing yet.
Alternatively you could find rats that are into ASMR.
Anyway, transparent pricing in the medical field will work to contain costs as long as you don't get sick or injured.
I work for a super expensive hospital system. People who are paying cash would pay less elsewhere. They might even have to pay s higher co pay to see us.
Knowing the price of an elective non emergent MRI could be helpful. Otherwise patients just go to the hospital where their doctor works or the one that's close to them. It may be different in other parts of the country where fewer doctors are employed by hospital systems.
Further to 14, that won't bend the cost curve, but it will make life slightly easier for people with high deductible health plans.
I think it will help some. Most health care at hospitals is non-emergency, so you really could shop around to a certain extent. One striking difference between the US and Europe is that they really do have price transparency. In Switzerland if you have to go to the hospital on a non-emergency basis, they prepare a careful price quote ahead of time, and that's what it costs, whether you are paying for it or the insurance company.
So maybe this is my own fault for being paranoid or obsessed with news, but even though it will probably never happen to me the whole idea of surprise out of network charges and balance billing makes me totally stressed every time I interact with the healthcare system. I'm thinking about making a little document to keep in my wallet that says, "If you treat me you agree to accept my insurance payment rates. If you attempt to bill me more you agree to pay me $500 for every hour of my time I have to spend resolving your unauthorized charge." And they automatically agree to it by treating me, just like unconscious people are forced to agree to pay charges without actually giving consent.
Then I'll make $5 million by selling little laminated cards to everyone in America.
Never pick a fight with someone who buys bariatric-rated sitz baths by the truck.
Wait, how long does it take to pleasure a rat?
17: you are fine in MA. Be careful in NY.
17: you are fine in MA. Be careful in NY.
From what I can tell, this might help people paying entirely out of pocket, but will not help anyone using insurance at all. The "price" of a procedure interacts with each insurance's "allowable amount" and the various cost sharing requirements built into your particular insurance plan. Good luck finding out the allowable amount, which is set by contract, and can vary with procedure, facility, medical practitioner, geography, insurance carrier, employer, etc, with basically no rhyme or reason whatsoever. (I just saw a presentation about this at work by the MA AG's office.)
There is exactly one hospital in this micropolitan area. Posting rates isn't going to help if they are still a monopoly.
It's a tiny step, but as the Coasian Hell guy, I think it would be progress to be honest about it. If the pricing doesn't exist it is impossible to say if it's high or low. Tyranny of Structurelessness, innit.