Well, it's not literally placed in the lobby (since the price chart is big and different locations/types/severities of e.g. hernia mean different types of operations, and the choice of which type of operation should be chosen is generally not made by you but by the consulting doctor) but it's conceptually the same in that the price list is publicly available and you know beforehand about what exactly you're going to be charged.

E.g. a link to a random local (to me) hospital's pricelist (not in English, sorry) https://www.aslimnica.lv/lv/content/neirokirurgijas-operacij... starts with two different procedures for herniated spinal disc repair. That's it, if your doctor recommends to do this operation, then if it's not covered by your insurance this is what you'll pay for the procedure followed by a standard per-day inpatient fee for however you're required to stay during recovery. It's up to the hospital how to split the amount among all the involved specialists labor, equipment, drugs and supplies required.

As far as I've seen when traveling, the same (i.e. once it's clear what you want to be done, there's a price known beforehand) applies in most European and Asian countries, but it's hard to provide online examples as you must look for the local non-english (the english-speaking market, USA+UK+UK dominions, seems quite different from the rest of the world) services since English websites tend to be oriented for "medical tourism" services which is different from how the locals handle their healthcare, and there's a significant language barrier.

How does pricing of elective surgeries work in your area?

> That's it, if your doctor recommends to do this operation, then if it's not covered by your insurance this is what you'll pay for the procedure followed by a standard per-day inpatient fee for however you're required to stay during recovery. It's up to the hospital how to split the amount among all the involved specialists labor, equipment, drugs and supplies required.

But this exactly the same in USA too. I got shoulder surgery in USA. Doctors office took my insurance information and called my insurance provider and told me how much my insurance covered and how much I am going to pay for it. I paid exactly that amount out of pocket post surgery.

As far as I understand, the insurance-negotiated system works more or less fine in USA, the major problems seem to be with uninsured rates; I have no first-hand experience from USA but the discussion about the health system claims that often they're either not able to obtain such information (especially if they'd be shopping to obtain a quote from multiple providers) or, alternatively, get hit with significant "surprise" extra bills from different additional providers. Of course, the issue may be exaggerated, but that's the impression I've got from media.

no it doesnt work. the insurance companies restrict reimbursement even for those people who pay premiums. I have seen deductibles now in the $5000 to $10000 range. The costs and fees have been inflated beyond reality to facilitate their profit numbers for their EPS ratios.