quote [ These prices are often kept secret.

Hospitals typically keep their prices private. One study found it was significantly easier to get information from hospitals about how much their parking costs then track down the price of a common medical procedure. When I have tried to conduct interviews with hospital executives about how they set their prices, I find that many are reluctant to comment.

That’s why we launched our project to collect emergency medical bills — to bring more transparency to prices that are typically opaque (and often set very high). ]