How Much Will That Heart Test Cost? Many Hospitals Won't Tell You

Patients often have a hard time finding out exactly what their medical care will cost them, and a new study finds that hospitals often are not able to provide price information for even simple procedures.

In the study, the researchers called 20 hospitals in the Philadelphia area, and asked how much it would cost to get an electrocardiogram (EKG) -- a simple test of the heart's electrical activity that's carried out the same way on all patients. The researchers later called up the same hospitals and asked how much it would cost to park at the hospital, as a test of whether hospitals could provide price information about anything over the phone.

Just three of the 20 hospitals gave a price for an EKG. And of the few that provided prices, the cost varied from $137 to $1,200. [10 Medical Myths That Just Won't Go Away]