putting patients in charge of their care”. I emphatically say “bullshit”.

Since there are "provider networks", you can't simply just shop. Half-assed measures are not going to solve the problem; single-payer/Medicare for All will.

The list price is entirely fictitious, as insurance payments are subject to discounts, as are "self pay" patients, and discounts are highly variable. Not to mention that, as you say, your insurance will more often than not put limits on where you can seek care.

Posted earlier by guillaumeb:

25 Ways the Canadian Health Care System Is Better Than The US System
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211594993

This is a good step forward.

Now if we can just prevent Azar from taking other actions to achieve the GOPs agenda of enriching billionaires at the expense of average Americans, we will be good.

still respond with "I'm sorry we can't give out that information."

a trumpster trying to pretend that hospital care is a free market. And that patients will now be to blame if they don't "shop around."

Posting list prices is mostly republican mumbo jumbo for competition will fix healthcare. Baloney.

If you have insurance you don't pay list price in network. If you go out of network it is likely because you need help now and you aren't shopping around.

Still it is not a negative step and any motion in the right direction is good. It may help around the edges.

Access and cost are the two biggest problems with the American healthcare system. Single payer makes it easier to solve the cost issue, but may not. Simplest example I can give is the inability for Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

The cost issue will be intractable because there is so much money involved. We spend 3.2 trillion dollars every year and about twice as much per person as other wealthy countries. That means to get close to other countries we have to cut one trillion dollars every year

That trillion is a huge waste but it's more than that. It pays the salaries of people not directly involved in delivering care. It goes into the profits of hospitals, insurance companies, drug companies and pharmacies. It goes to the over compensated execs and share holders of medical stock.

You can count on those interest groups fighting tooth and nail to protect their income. We need a plan to attack costs.

For example, we should be pushing for drug price reform. Medicare should negotiate prices. Non-Medicare patients should be able to purchase at those prices at some "carrying charge" kind of markup. The way we are gouged even a 20% markup would be way better than where we are.

We cannot allow republicans to frame the cost issue. We need to talk about fixing price gouging.

It would be a full-time job for more than one person per hospital.