One of the reasons why health care costs have exploded is that we have no idea what things cost. There is no requirement for prices for health services to be made public. This apparently the case for cars until a law was passed in 1958 requiring that cars have sticker prices. The laws was promoted by Oklahoma Senator Mike Monroney.
Should a similar bill be passed for health care? Do you have any idea what health services cost?
If there is ever an industry in need of a Senator Monroney today, it is
health care, in which 1950s-era thinking still rules the day, and
irrational and inexplicable pricing is routine. The health care industry
plays a gigantic game of Blind Man’s Bluff, keeping patients in the
dark while asking them to make life-and-death decisions. The odds that
they will make the best choice are negligible and largely depend on
chance. Patients need to have data, including costs and their own
medical histories, liberated and made freely available for thorough
analysis. What health care needs is a window sticker—a transparent,
good-faith effort at making prices clear and setting market forces to
work.
