a successful business without knowing the cost and profit of different services you offer. Of course there can be exceptions, but on the whole they know.

Currently there is incentive to CHARGE MORE. If I can justify to the government or insurance providers that my base cost is $X amount and so I have to charge at least $Y then I get a higher price. So I include a bunch of stuff that would not be include otherwise.

If prices were posted and people began shopping around, all of a sudden it starts making sense to search for ways to reduce costs. Right now there is not much pressure to reduce costs.