One longtime criticism of the healthcare industry is that patients don't have a good way of knowing what treatment is going to cost. A more transparent industry, one theory posits, would enable consumers to choose low-cost providers, thus increasing competition and driving down healthcare costs nationwide.

Certain tools to lead healthcare consumers to low prices do exist, but they are far from efficient and not yet widely used.

The change could eventually come from insurers, who place caps on the amouts they are willing to pay for procedures, then seeking out the best prices for their policyholders. And in many cases, quality of care is even harder to determine than its price.

These are only a few problems with the present model. Even if we covered more, we'd be no closer to a consumer-facing healthcare market that works.

Read full article at Marketplace.