The problem is that hospitals can’t really post medical prices for emergency room visits because they don’t know what treatments you need in advance. Posting prices is ideal for elective procedures where you schedule them in advance and have time to consider alternatives, get a second opinion, etc.
Well sure they can. There may be loopholes to exploit, as there always are in any transaction, but they could publish what it costs to rent a gurney for 4 hours, what a CT scan costs, what a broken wrist cast costs etc.
I agree, they couldn’t know what may be required, but they could certainly set a price on what various medical services cost.
Side track: I was in the ER last summer. I dreaded going because it was near peak Covid but I really needed to go. I sat in my draped off room and to their credit it took them 2 or 3 questions to figure out the problem. It wasn’t Dr. House type stuff. But while I lay there, I heard them call all hands on deck for multiple victims of a car accident. First they wheeled in the guy badly hurt - he was the victim. He had major pain, and a watermelon sized bruise on his torso. He refused to have a CT scan but agreed to an X-Ray. The nurses said “OK” and then when they wheeled him away said “make sure the imaging department does a CT scan”. He probably needed it, I don’t suspect fraud. Then the next guy came in, accompanied by police. He had a broken finger. He admitted to the police that he was drinking and smoking pot when he crashed into the other car so hard it pushed the car, and the victim, into a tree. They read him his Miranda rights on the spot and cuffed him to the gurney. They should’ve billed him for the handcuff rental.