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I want a comprehensible restaurant-like menu.

Likely not going to happen purely out of complexity if nothing else. Look at the list of ICD procedure codes[1] and imagine all of these with a price attached. Comprehensive, sure, but comprehensible? Ehhh.. pushing it.

[1]: https://www.icd10data.com/ICD10PCS/Codes



Yup! And what will you do about it anyways? Like "Oh, you need xyz, it will cost $1000" Ok. Now that I know that, what am I supposed to do? Shop around? What if I'm in the emergency room, what then? Are they supposed to give me a price menu for every single drug or treatment they need to perform against me?

"Hey, we'll do CPR, but that'll will be $100, please sign here so we can save your life".

The ala cart method seems like it might work until you start thinking about the logistics. If someone goes to a doctor complaining about chest pain, do we really want them to leave because an EKG and blood test are going to cost $200. No matter how much the doctor explains to them "You might be dying" plenty of people will walk out of the hospital once the bill is presented. In some of those situations, that's going to be deadly.


For some perspective, I’m pretty sure there are a lot of non-Americans reading this thread amazed at just how comical current US thinking around healthcare has become.


Absolutely. By the way, in most cases you don't have to bill it at all, because the actual cost is negligible.




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