How Much Does a C-Section Cost? At One Hospital, Anywhere From $6,241 to $60,584.

The nation’s roughly 6,000 hospitals have begun to reveal the secret rates they negotiate with insurers for a range of procedures. The data offer the first full look inside the confidential deals that set healthcare rates for insurers and employers covering more than 175 million Americans. The submissions also illuminate how widely prices vary—even for the same procedure, performed in the same facility—depending on who is paying.

Employers, will tap the new data, using it to help choose which hospitals to use and to negotiate with insurers, said Elizabeth Mitchell, chief executive of the Purchaser Business Group on Health, which represents major employers.