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One more thing, which might even be the most important, third party payments, which means the patient has almost no incentive to find cheaper options. This is exacerbated by the inability to compare prices built into the system.

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I don't think a market for health is appropriate or could function correctly at the consumer level. If I'm ill, I want to get fixed with the currently understood medical best practice and in a timely manner - not look for 'cheaper options'. That is what universal/non-marketplace healthcare is intended to deliver - and to a first approximation does just that in many places, and any rationing necessary is done according to need, not ability to pay.

Even in those systems if you have more money you can get better and faster care. Something like 60% of Canadians have private insurance. I live near the border and several of my friends have visited the US for to bypass lines.

How possible is it to find cheaper options even if someone wanted to do so? It's nearly impossible to get healthcare providers to commit to a price.

This is getting better. Most providers provide price transparency. The data is dirty and not consistent between providers but definitely a start.

Check out https://turquoise.health/patients a startup scraping and standardizing the data.

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