In all of those cases you can:

1. Take 30 mins to find the most affordable option. 2. Ask for a lower price.

1. The most affordable option may be a complete waste of money, and you have no way to tell ahead of time. 2. Ditto.

You also could just live in a country with a good single payer health service, and know that you'll be treated without any bullshit.

The fact that anyone would seriously suggest shopping around for treatment, as if there is a convincing and credible reason why anyone should even have to consider this, is beyond astonishing to me.

I think this is the part where i use "could". This is simply not possible today. Doctors dont really know or care how much "you" will be charged vs how much they get paid. If there was more transparency, you could imagine doctors and patients working their way out. People would see the inefficiency, and yake counter measures, both as care giver and care taker.

I have heard multiple stories now whete independent practices now just want cash, without insurance, payments for much cheaper, and they get paid more in the end.

2 is interesting.

We are expecting a baby, and one of the tests we had to get done early in the pregnancy was NIPT. There was 2-3 companies we could go with, and when we asked for the price they responded some number between >2.7K - I don't really recall - it could even be 8K. When asked for the cash price, they said 250$.

Crazy.