Thinking About Health: Providers don't want to say what that surgery will cost

People would think that making the prices charged by hospitals and doctors available to their patients would be a no-brainer. After all, they’ve become accustomed to knowing the price they pay for cars, carrots, comic books and almost everything else they buy. Why not knee surgery or appendectomies?

The medical establishment, it seems, isn’t keen on letting the public in on what health practitioners charge for their services. Despite lots of talk about price transparency from government officials, including the Trump administration, the actions of hospitals and physicians speak otherwise.

“Pri...