Hospital Price Gaps Create Turmoil in US Health-Care Market

For the full experience visit: Hospital Price Gaps Show Just How Broken the US Health-Care Market Is

When a baby is about to arrive, every minute counts. Yet when Jen Villa of Salinas, California, was in labor, she and her partner drove 45 minutes in the middle of the night, bypassing nearby hospitals to reach one they could afford.

For years, the price of hospital care has been hidden from patients, companies and taxpayers who get the bills — and that secrecy has made a hospital visit in some places prohibitively expensive. It has also fostered huge disparities, forcing people ...