[pil4rin]

Yeah, except many (most in my area) healthcare providers do not have fixed rates for service, and prices that are offered are often just estimates, with no real recourse if the estimate is off by a wide margin.

My wife had elective surgery- I had a high deductible plan at the time with an HSA account. When we asked what the total cost would be, the quote was ~$1100. The total bills that came to us were well over three times that. There is no real recourse for this, we wrote letters, called governing agencies in our area and were nearly sent to collections before I just paid for it.

Free market capitalism is far from what we have in almost every service-based industry in my experience, and companies fight tooth and nail to ensure it stays that way.

[refurb]

When we asked what the total cost would be, the quote was ~$1100. The total bills that came to us were well over three times that.

That sounds like an opportunity, no? If I were a hospital, I'd start providing cost guarantees to my patients and their insurers.

In fact, some of that is already starting to happen with capitated payment systems. Instead of paying for each procedure, a hospitals get a fixed amount per patient per year. If they can keep costs low, they keep the difference. If they can't, they take a loss.

It's important to remember a lot of healthcare providers are hamstrung by current regulations as well. Even just to start a new hospital, you need to get a "certificate of need" from your state.

Healthcare is far from a free market in the US.

[dublinben]

>If I were a hospital, I'd start providing cost guarantees to my patients and their insurers.

Why? Healthcare consumers are largely price insensitive. They currently have no incentive to 'shop around' and reward lower priced providers.

We are only starting to see innovative service providers that are trying to change this.[0]

[0]http://www.npr.org/2015/10/09/447098694/why-most-people-don-...

[refurb]

With the advent of high deductible plans, there is a ton of incentive for patients. If your deductible is $5,000, every dollar you save on medical costs is money in your pocket. They are becoming more and more common.