The cost of everything from appendectomies to X-rays becomes transparent, improving competition and driving down costs.

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Most of the cost of those expensive appendectomies are borne by insurance companies.

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Today the site lists complication rates for everything from appendectomies to childbirths.

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Litvak's work also led to the creation of a "surgeon of the week, " who would clear his calendar solely to handle urgent appendectomies and bone-setting.

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If we didn't allow Pistorius to compete for the highest stakes in the world's premier competitions, we shouldn't allow all the so-called normal athletes to compete who survived childhood thanks to immunizations and emergent appendectomies either.

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In medicine, efficiency leads to expensive appendectomies.

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Sixteen state hospital associations operate Web sites that allow comparison shopping for such inpatient procedures as appendectomies, maternity stays and knee or hip replacements: Georgia, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.

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