> consumers are totally divorced from prices.<p>It is really bad.<p>I was charged $1,950 for an ambulance ride. Until the ambulance company learned that I had insurance. Then the price dropped to $790 <i>even though the ride wasn't covered by my benefits</i>. I was charged 61% less because I had insurance. I can't imagine how anyone who is uninsured can financially survive even relatively minor injuries or illnesses. They have the least ability to pay, and get charged the most. It's so upside down, it pisses me off. And that's hard to do.<p>A large part of the problem is that insurance companies negotiate prices with care providers, and every insurance company can therefore get a different set of prices at the same facility. So even if we collectively reported what we paid to an open database, you couldn't be assured of getting the same price as me on the same procedure if we had different insurance companies.