A real solution to healthcare cost is making healthcare a functioning market where the buyer knows prices before they purchase.
A consumer cannot price shop and delay an appointment or procedure when it is a matter of life and death.
A hospital or insurance company cannot say no to someone who they are 100% sure will never be able to pay the bill.
Insurance is for uncommon events that you have little to no control over. The policy you choose should reflect how you want to mitigate your own risk of uncommon events happening.
Rule changes like this take time to be implemented and effective. You cant very well expect current practices to change when effectively very little has changed in price transparency yet.
I'm asserting even if it was implemented fully it won't do shit. I have insurance why would I give a shit about the prices? my employer pays the majority of the costs. its only going to incentives the uninsured to go shopping and they're a very small market.
thats precisely the problem. lack of choices in the insurance market where the incentives are not aligned.
So, after price transparency what is the next step to reach the goal of a healthcare free-market? I say it would be competition. Once prices are known publicly then it becomes easier for independent doctors to compete on price. There may be barriers to competition like limits on number of medical doctors that are granted licenses or something to that effect.
price transparency does jack shit in such a market where the stakes are literally your health.
healthcare services do not compete on price they compete on quality of service.
the next step and what should have been the first step is a public option with a mandate that employers must offer it as one of the insurance coverages available. I'd even go further and say employers must offer public + 3 other private insurances and to opt out for an increase in base pay equal to what the employer contributes to the most expensive plan.
the natural pressures on the government to minimize wasteful spending on social services will take care of the rest as suddenly private insurance will have to compete with cheaper to you public insurance.