Most patients don’t have a clue. Often the doctor doesn’t know either. That’s why an MRI can cost anywhere from $600 at one hospital to $6,000 at another one a few miles away.

Think about how much money could be saved if people shopped around for the best deal,  like we do when we buy groceries or airline tickets.

Thanks to the almost singlehanded lobbying by our friend Cynthia Fisher who runs Patient Rights Advocate, Trump signed an EO in his first term requiring price transparency at hospitals, clinics, doctor offices and pharmacies.

Guess what? It isn’t working. Few health care providers are complying. Worse, the order goes ignored by the arrogant medical establishment with impunity. And prices continue to skyrocket.

Here’s our common-sense idea to force the medical industrial complex to start obeying the law lickity-split. If a patient can attest that he/she was never informed of the price of a medical service, the doctor, the hospital, the pharmacy doesn’t get paid -whether it’s for a pair of crutches, an X-ray, a prescription drug, or a C-section. The patient doesn’t pay a dime.

Sorry doc: No price transparency, no pay.