Hospital billing was supposed to be made simpler, but federal law has failed, Sun-Times investigation finds

Five patients are at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge for a diagnostic echocardiogram.For the same noninvasive test of the heart, the five patients could each get different prices — as little as $973 or as much as $1,721, depending on their insurance provider and plan.If a patient is uninsured, they’d get a "discounted cash price” of $1,155 — hundreds of dollars less than those with certain insurance plans, according to the hospital’s publicly posted data.The wildly varying price...