Start with the fact that even the hospitals themselves do not even know the cost/price of their procedures and goods.
Notice here, in 2013, an article about how "For the very first time, the federal government is publicly releasing the "rate card" (the full charge before insurance company discounts) prices hospitals throughout the nation charge for the one hundred most common procedures and services."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/05/08/the-great-...
Price discovery, the most basic element of a free market, is literally impossible, even for expert executives within their own organizations. Vast price discrepancies exist for procedures just a few towns apart. Discovery for consumers in advance is impossible, and of course absurd in the situation where you are being rushed to the nearest hospital in an emergency.
Do not let anyone get away with claiming that this is somehow a "Free Market" until reliable prices, and outcome rates (with case difficulty information) are as easily available as prices and reviews on Amazon.
Notice here, in 2013, an article about how "For the very first time, the federal government is publicly releasing the "rate card" (the full charge before insurance company discounts) prices hospitals throughout the nation charge for the one hundred most common procedures and services." https://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/05/08/the-great-...
Yet two years later, a CEO of a hospital cannot even get the costs at the hospital of which she is CEO: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/health/what-are-a-hospita...
Price discovery, the most basic element of a free market, is literally impossible, even for expert executives within their own organizations. Vast price discrepancies exist for procedures just a few towns apart. Discovery for consumers in advance is impossible, and of course absurd in the situation where you are being rushed to the nearest hospital in an emergency.
Do not let anyone get away with claiming that this is somehow a "Free Market" until reliable prices, and outcome rates (with case difficulty information) are as easily available as prices and reviews on Amazon.