Choosing what you think is generally the cheaper hospital is not a solution. The things they charge you for is varied and you never have a choice as to what they will be. The doctors usually charge you separately, and you can't predict which doctors are on call at any time.
But even more fundamentally, the issue is information asymmetry. Consumers don't have anywhere close to adequate information to make intelligent choices about health care costs. 99% of consumers have no applicable medical training.
The fact that this data has to be published means any one person with medical knowledge and their techie friend can now build a "what's the cheapest hospital near me?" website, which is something we couldn't do yesterday.
This is an enormous problem, and the way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
But even more fundamentally, the issue is information asymmetry. Consumers don't have anywhere close to adequate information to make intelligent choices about health care costs. 99% of consumers have no applicable medical training.