This doesn't address what is probably the most common health scenario.  You have an emergency, go to the emergency room for a short while and then you are moved into non-emergency care at the hospital.  The emergency costs are not transparent, as stated.  And the hospital costs are not transparent because they don't have to be shown to the patient for 10 days.  So for an emergency followed by 3 days in the hospital, nothing changes.  They can still bill you as much as they feel like billing you.  The system is still broken in this case.