Health care prices in the United States

Unlike most markets for consumer services in the United States, the health care market generally lacks transparent market-based pricing. Patients are typically not able to comparison shop for medical services based on price, as medical service providers do not typically disclose prices prior to service. Government mandated critical care and government insurance programs like Medicare also impact market pricing of U.S. health care. According to the New York Times, "the United States is far and away the world leader in medical spending, even though numerous studies have concluded that Americans do not get better care" and prices are the highest in the world.

In the U.S. medical industry, patients generally do not have access to pricing information until after medical services have been rendered. A study conducted by the California Healthcare Foundation found that only 25% of visitors asking for pricing information were able to obtain it in a single visit to a hospital.

Since the majority (85%) of Americans have health insurance, they do not directly pay for medical services. Insurance companies, as payors, negotiate health care pricing with providers on behalf of the insured. Hospitals, doctors, and other medical providers have traditionally disclosed their fee schedules only to insurance companies and other institutional payors, and not to individual patients. Uninsured individuals are expected to pay directly for services, but since they lack access to pricing information, price-based competition may be reduced. The introduction of high-deductible insurance has increased demand for pricing information among consumers. As high-deductible health plans rise across the country, with many individuals having deductibles of $2500 or more, their ability to pay for costly procedures diminishes, and hospitals end up covering the cost of patients care. Many health systems are putting in place price transparency initiatives and payments plans for their patients so that the patients better understand what the estimated cost of their care is, and how they can afford to pay for their care over time.

Organizations such as the American Medical Association (AMA) and AARP support a "fair and accurate valuation for all physician services". Very few resources exist, however, that allow consumers to compare physician prices (one exception is CostOfDoctors.com) The AMA sponsors the Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee, a private group of physicians which largely determine how to value physician labor in Medicare prices. Among politicians, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has called for transparency in the prices of medical devices, noting it is one of the few aspects or U.S. health care where consumers and federal health officials are "barred from comparing the quality, medical outcomes or price".

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