Lawyers, accountants, and mechanics all have to provide estimates to a client precisely for this reason.  I see no reason why medical practitioners should be any different.<p>As an anecdote, I have found that price comparisons are perfectly feasible in a non-emergency situation.  My son broke his arm, and instead of just driving to the nearest emergency room, I called around to a handful of urgent-care clinics and found one that was able to quote me some prices that were reasonable, so we went there to get him treated.  Easy.<p>In any case, I think the ACA is a train wreck, piling on more of the crap that makes our system suck: the disconnect between consumer and producer.  If we ever want to make our healthcare market sane, we will have to largely cut out the middleman (&quot;insurance&quot;), and the only way to do that is have patients pay for their own care (particularly routine care).