To shop for health care, it would help to know what childbirth or a CT scan will cost ahead of time. But is it possible to actually list prices for medical procedures? And will patients armed with the information look for bargains when they seek care?

Massachusetts is trying to find out. Since Jan. 1, hospitals and doctors there have been required to tell patients how much things cost, if they ask. It's part of the state's health care cost control law. We set out to run a test.

Our shopper: Caroline Collins, a 32-year-old pregnant real estate agent from Fitchburg who is trying to compare prices for a vaginal delivery. Her first call is to the main number at Health Alliance Hospital in nearby Leominster. From there, she is transferred to the hospital's obstetrics department. A receptionist there tells Collins to call the billing office at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, which is part of the same hospital network as Health Alliance.

When a customer service rep answers, Collins launches right in: "I'm due in June and my husband and I have pretty minimal coverage, just a really high deductible, so I just wanted to check and see what the cost would be." Collins' deductible is $3,000 a year, but she expects the delivery to cost more than that. She just wants to know how much more.

Collins is directed to the extension of someone named Cathy, who apparently has the price list for services at UMass member hospitals. Turns out Cathy will be out for two weeks. Collins leaves a message, tries another number in the billing office and leaves another message.

She moves on to Emerson Hospital, where she's transferred from the main switchboard four times before leaving a message for a woman who has not called back after two days. Massachusetts law requires a callback within two days.

The only place where she reaches a person who gives her a price after one call is a natural birth center called the Birth Cottage. Their price: $3,000 to $5,000 for a normal vaginal delivery.

The third day, Collins hears from UMass Memorial. "She did give me an average price," Collins says. A vaginal delivery would cost "between $10,000 and $16,000." If her delivery turned into an emergency C-section, the cost would be between $20,000 and $30,000 "depending on the operation and how it went," Collins says.

Collins is told she will probably only have to pay her $3,000 deductible of whatever the price is in the end, but she's not sure. She's getting conflicting information about what is and isn't covered from her obstetrician, the hospitals and her insurer.

No one said this would be easy. Each hospital negotiates prices with each insurer. Sometimes the hospital and physician charges are separate, sometimes they are not. And what the patient pays on top of their premium varies if they have a deductible or coinsurance.

The rest is here:

Massachusetts Launches Health Care Shopping Experiment