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> make arbitrary post-facto charges illegal,

Hospitals now are required to make pricing transparent and surprise bills (out of network charges) are now prohibited, both are recent reforms.




Out of network charges are only one possible surprise, and it's yet to be seen how the cartels wriggle out of the new regulation.

As far as I am aware, you're still unable to get straightforward answers for questions like "how much will this procedure cost?". Furthermore, this "transparent pricing" revolves around publishing a fake list of inflated prices that nobody actually pays and so is effectively useless.

Meanwhile in every other industry you either get a flat fee ($30 for an oil change), or at the very least an estimate and a contract that fixes the rate (the shop rate is $80/hour, we think this will take 2 hours). Materials are often overcharged (eg $140 for a part that is easily available for $100, because it's delivered from a special supplier) but still within a workable bound, unlike say fraudulent aspirin.

This is a straightforward reform - the reason healthcare doesn't operate like this is they bought laws creating the ability to charge you without needing to establish a contract.




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