We can Hardly Pretend to have Competition, if We don't have This

   I read through Trump's proposals on health care, and there are a couple points I really like. Here is one:
   "Require price transparency from all heathcare providers, especially doctors and healthcare organizations like clinics and hospitals. Individuals should be able to shop to find the best prices for procedures, exams or any other medical-related procedure."
   You can hardly pretend to have competition when there is not even a way to price the product. One of the important things we must do, if we are to rein in the high cost of medicine, is to bring price tags to the market place. Tell us the total cost, and tell us the cost that will not be covered by insurance.
  I believe this kind of transparency, at least to some extent, is something already required by Obamacare. But, much remains to be done. I think of my most recent event with a doctor. They wanted me to come in for an echo cardiogram. But, I did not receive a price quote. I should have.
   But, as important as it is to post price tags, it will not do any good if we do not take a partner step. These price quotes will only do us good if we can take our business to another provider. Not only should I have received a quote on how much the echo cardiogram would cost, but I should have had the option of going to another cardiologist for the procedure. That isn't the case. When we have doctors, we have doctors. We're locked in. We don't float from one doctor for one visit and on to another doctor for the next visit.
   We should be able to.
   As I think further on this, it is not only us, but the insurance companies that should be able to shop and choose. The person paying the bill has got to be provided the choice. If it is just us, we won't care to go to a less-expensive provider if it is all covered by insurance anyway and there is no cost to us either way.
   How we work that out, we might should consider. Do we just give the insurance company the choice, and force us to go to a doctor we aren't choosing ourselves? Or, do we just let the insurance company make a recommendation for us, and leave us with the actual choice?
   However we do it, restoring this principle of choice to our health-care system is vital. It is perhaps the crux of converting our system to the free market.