The basis of any transaction is knowing the prices before the transaction is made. Hospitals maintain price lists, known as the chargemaster schedule, but keep them secret from their customers, so that no one knows how much something is going to cost until the bill arrives. This
makes it impossible for customers to intelligently shop for services as well as creating huge opportunities for outrageous bill padding. No other business gets away with concealing the price of its products from its consumers until the product is already sold.
The Federal Government should demand that all health care providers that it does business with post their price list publicly, so consumers can compare prices before entering into binding transactions.