I had four surgeries last year. In all cases I was given a price quote plus a ballpark on the cost of incidentals (things purchased outside the hospital, e.g. antibiotics to consume at home). For example, I was told that my spine surgery would cost 1.4 lac only. The final bill: https://imgur.com/Dbkrmo7

In all cases the final price agreed with my initial quote down to the rupee. The cost of the incidentals was also within the ballpark that I was told (and minor in any case - e.g. 1.4 lac for surgery and 2-3k for post surgery pills).

One of the wonderful things about India is that the medical system is almost entirely consumer driven - you have a problem, you pay the doctor, and he does his thing. Customers choose a doctor based (in part) on price, resulting in price competition. Nonsense like refusing a price quote will result in customers walking away.

Given a choice, I'll always choose to consume medicine in India. It's just a vastly superior system to anyplace else I've tried.