patrick.net

Fountain Valley resident Jennifer Moore makes a really good point.

“When you take your car to the mechanic, they give you a written estimate before they touch it,” she told me.

“So why is it that when you go to the hospital, you have no idea how much something will cost until the bill arrives?”

Moreover, why are prices so completely different from one healthcare provider to another?

And why is it that when patients try to find out in advance how much something will cost, they’re treated like unwelcome guests rather than equal partners in their own treatment?

The magnitude of reforming the $3.6-trillion U.S. healthcare system is so daunting, it’s hard to even know where to start.

Here, let me help.

Open a window and let in some sunlight.

The near-total lack of transparency in healthcare pricing is a key reason we have the highest costs in the world — roughly twice what people in other developed countries pay.

Simply put, drugmakers, hospitals, labs and other medical providers face no accountability for their frequently obscene charges because it’s often impossible for patients to know how badly they’re being ripped off.