RT Journal
A1 Steinmetz A, Emanuel EJ
T1 What does a hip replacement cost?: The transparency imperative in 2013comment on “obtaining consumer prices from us hospitals for a common surgical procedure”
JF JAMA Internal Medicine
JO JAMA Internal Medicine
YR 2013
FD March 25
VO 173
IS 6
SP 432
OP 434
DO 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.465
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.465
AB 
In the 1950s, the American automobile industry was rife with information asymmetries, leaving prospective buyers at the mercy of the dealer. Rarely would a buyer know the full price of a new car until after he or she had committed to buying it. Rarer still would that buyer know anything about the quality of the vehicle he or she had decided to purchase. And while every new Ford and Chevy came with a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), and various quality and safety metrics, none of that information was required to be disclosed prior to a sale. Exorbitant shipping charges and phony “preparation fees” were frequently tacked on without the buyer's knowledge. Price disparities from dealer to dealer were exceedingly vast. The result in the mid-20th century was a broken automobile industry that stuck American families with unnecessarily high bills.1- 2