> An orange farmer has a price for his oranges months before his orange trees blossom

The futures market, how can we do that for people?

Joke.

My mechanic gives me a more or less binding estimate before he starts working, and calls me to confirm before doing anything that costs more.

I understand that's not necessarily practical or helpful in an emergency or operating room, but if we could get that for office visits, it would be great.

Ill be satisfied if I knew how much something will cost after I got it done.

Its a first step.

Then, maybe in a distant future, we can move on to reasonable estimates an hour before a non-emergency procedure.

In this utopian future, I will have access to a chart with all the procedures atomistic broken down and codified with a corresponding prices for every code so can add up the cost myself.

Of course this magical cost sheet already exists. I’m just not allowed to see it.

Seriously though, if you applied cold rationality to healthcare and did not let human dignity get in the way, we would treat the healthcare industry more like an auto-repair shop or a veterinarian office.

It is only undignified in your mind. There's nothing wrong with being open about your prices, healthcare or not