toddmaddison

To your point on secrecy...   We have laws right now requiring advance approval of almost every charge in the universe, including the Good Faith Estimate in mortgages, estimate requirements in car and TV repair, proposals in home remodeling, etc.  There are almost no situations where it's acceptable to only tell you the charge after a service has been performed.

Why is a "Medical Good Faith Estimate" not a requirement in healthcare, and is there any way to get legislators attention to something like this?

A recent Arm and A Leg podcast outlined a process where one could challenge "surprise bills" in small claims court.  I've often wondered about this, being a small business owner that has had to defend myself in small claims on cases where customers were actually given estimates and approved in writing prior to our charges, even that is difficult to prevail on at times. 

Do we know of any cases where this has worked, would it be beneficial to all to see some examples of that to encourage people to make that attempt?

Hard to say. I've been promoting the idea everywhere I can, I've emailed, called, and FAXed my state and local legislators. Nothing, of course.

Recently Nancy Pelosi has made vague noises about a proposal (but no details.) I've contacted her office as well (she's here in CA at least) but not sure what else We The People can do...

Perhaps this could be addressed at a state level rather than federal, at least to get the ball rolling.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/us/politics/pelosi-democrats-health-care-plan.html

"Accountable" is awesome as well.

I'd like to know who "most people" are? 80% of the population of the US lives in metropolitan areas. Perhaps there are specialized services that are only available in limited areas, but if you look at the vast bulk of medical procedures I suspect you would find 90% or more of them are shoppable, at least within 30 minutes to an hour of your location.

And, if you could save thousands of dollars by taking a flight to a nearby metro center and spending some time in a five star hotel with room service, why would you not do that?