As of January 1st, hospitals are required to post their prices online.
It's part of a new wave of consumer transparency on the part of health.
Bus as one family just learned, the price posted online and what you pay can be very different.
Justin Binik-Thomas is spending his new year fighting a hospital bill.
After his 7 year old daughter fractured her arm on the playground.
He didn't think it would be too costly, since she was treated in an outpatient clinic.
"And according to them and my insurance, that would lower the cost."
But after an arm x-ray and cast from a technician "The whole process was less than an hour."
Justin couldn't believe what arrived in the mail.
"We got a bill for more than $2,000."
Justing knew that the hospital had recently begun posting its pricing online.
So he checked and was stunned to learn her visit apparently clocked in at the highest ER cost.
"The clinic price point is higher than the Level 5 emergency room."
Now Justin says it was great to finally see prices posted online.
But he says when he finally got the bill, his prices were completely different. Because it turns out every insurance company negotiates different rates.
The hospital's posted rate online for an x-ray: $157, but Justin's bill shows $227.
Instead of a basic ER fee, his daughter was billed for surgery at $1,264, even though he says she didn't have any surgery.
"I was very surprised that it would be coded as a surgery...at a higher rate than the emergency room."
A hospital spokesman could not discuss Justin's bill due to HIPPA rules.
But he said "people seldom pay these listed prices because of the coverage terms of their health insurance plans"
Meaning these new prices are just guideline.
In the end, Justin found one good thing about rates now being posted online.
It gives you a place to start when trying to find out what a procedure should cost.
I'm John Matarese FOX 47 News.
