Going beyond posting hospital prices to lower healthcare costs

For patients with health insurance, what they actually pay out of their pocket depends not only on the price of the services they use, but also on the structure of their insurance plan. — TNS

When the idea of price transparency first took hold outside purely academic circles, the pitch was simple: people of the American state of Colorado would save themselves and the system money by shopping for healthcare the way they do for TVs or cars.

But shopping for healthcare has proven more difficult than buying consumer goods.