> Elective procedures work well in a free market system.
Dental work is only semi-elective, and prices are driven down thanks to transparent pricing.
Likewise, one can argue that vision services are also non-elective (e.g. people need to see), and prices go through a very large range.
Many medical conditions are not "emergencies". And even so, I often get referrals from my doctor to external imaging services. If those prices were transparent, I imagine a downwards pressure on prices would happen quite quickly.
To give an example, ultrasounds for pregnancies cost ~$250, ultrasounds for almost anything else are 50% to 100% higher in price. In a similar vein, x-rays at the dentist are next to nothing (despite involving a cool robot that rotates around my head, and a digital x-ray sensor that lets me look at images right away!), x-rays for anything else can end up in the hundreds.
Hospitals would also benefit from transparent pricing, if there was a legal mandate that all suppliers be open and honest, prices would drop for everyone. When a hospital sees that other hospitals in the area can offer the same service at a lower cost, meeting the same quality standards, then they can start pushing their vendors to lower prices.
Dental work is only semi-elective, and prices are driven down thanks to transparent pricing.
Likewise, one can argue that vision services are also non-elective (e.g. people need to see), and prices go through a very large range.
Many medical conditions are not "emergencies". And even so, I often get referrals from my doctor to external imaging services. If those prices were transparent, I imagine a downwards pressure on prices would happen quite quickly.
To give an example, ultrasounds for pregnancies cost ~$250, ultrasounds for almost anything else are 50% to 100% higher in price. In a similar vein, x-rays at the dentist are next to nothing (despite involving a cool robot that rotates around my head, and a digital x-ray sensor that lets me look at images right away!), x-rays for anything else can end up in the hundreds.
Hospitals would also benefit from transparent pricing, if there was a legal mandate that all suppliers be open and honest, prices would drop for everyone. When a hospital sees that other hospitals in the area can offer the same service at a lower cost, meeting the same quality standards, then they can start pushing their vendors to lower prices.