The cost of healthcare is mostly unknown to patients. We have no way to price a doctor's services or the cost of a medical test, nor do we find pricing published anywhere that helps us compare prices to make better consumer decisions.
Further, the charges for those services are different depending on who is being billed for them. Health insurance companies, state insurance plans and Medicare negotiate pricing with providers and facilities that are much less than the amount charged to individuals. That means that someone with no insurance or other payer will be charged much more for those services. For example, an annual check-up could be billed to an individual for $100, but if that individual had insurance, the insurer would be billed only $55.
Within discussions of healthcare reform, this opaque system of costs is blamed for some of the too-high cost of care in the United States. Many experts believe that if patients better understood the cost of the services and products they want and need, making those costs transparent, then they would ration care themselves, rather than simply expecting their choices to be covered by their payer. Further, among those who favor maximizing private health insurance options, cost transparency is necessary for making consumer-directed healthcare work.
