When you want to buy something - a lunch , a shirt or a plane ticket - you can usually find the price of the item on a menu , tag or online listing . It 's not as easy when it comes to health care . The truth is that undergoing a simple tonsillectomy can cost as little as $ 4,000 to as much as $ 14,000 , depending on the city , according to new data compiled by Gawker . Using data from HealthSparq , the website charted eight common procedures and compared how much they cost in Washington , DC ; New York City ; Miami ; Houston ; Los Angeles and San Francisco . Random : New data shows the difference in price for common health care procedures in six cities across the U.S . Above , the cost of undergoing a tonsillectomy varies as much as $ 10,000 . Common procedure : The cost of undergoing an appendectomy hovers around $ 14,000 in most cities , but is a steal in Washington DC at $ 9,000 . The results will certainly have Houston residents driving to Los Angeles if they want to undergo a carpal tunnel procedure . A carpal tunnel release procedure at a surgical center in Houston costs upwards of $ 20,000 - while the price of the same procedure in the other cities hover between $ 5,000 and $ 8,000 . Herniated disc decompression surgery costs $ 15,000 in Washington and more than three and a half times more in Houston and Los Angeles - more than $ 48,000 . A simply tonsillectomy will run $ 3,500 in Washington - but costs $ 14,000 in San Francisco . The reason health care costs are not widely advertised stems from the fact that they vary based on who ends up paying - and insurers do n't like revealing the negotiated final amount . However , there has been a recent push towards price transparency . Some states have started making databses of health care costs based on insurance claims and other insurance data . You can also research the costs of health care further on websites like HealthcareBlueBook.com . Ouch : Decompressing a herniated disc at a surgical center in Houston , Los Angeles , San Francisco and New York costs around the same as four years of college . Astronomical : Houston has an exceptionally high cost for a carpal tunnel release at a surgical center compared to the rest of the cities . Simple : It costs about twice the amount to undergo a outpatient carpal tunnel procedure in Miami than it does in New York City .
Charts show differences in price for common medical procedure in six Los Angeles cities . Prices for a procedure like a tonsillectomy can range between $ 4,000 and $ 14,000 .