[dnautics]

that's generally not true. For most procedures done in hospitals there is nearly no reason why patients can't shop around. With basically the only exception being the ER, for true emergencies.

Moreover, even if NOT ALL patients shop around, say, even just 10%, there would be enough momentum going to put pressure on doctors to improve quality of care and decrease costs.

[watwut]

It is hard to shop around because prices are not transparent. It is very hard to find out in advance how much exactly will everything cost you. You can get some partial information (how much they charge for room), but they will not tell you in advance about all the tests you will have to pay. Then there are small item hospitals charge a lot for: band-aids for example. Unless you know a lot about healthcare system, you will not be able to guess all of them.

Plus, hospitals are not in habit of committing to agreed upon price in advance. So, even if you shop around the amount they will charge you still can be much different then the one you calculated.