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 us 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 don'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 healthcarebluebookcom 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 
us between $4,000 and $14,000
charts show differences in price for common medical procedure in six us cities . prices for a procedure like a tonsillectomy can range between $4,000 and $14,000 