So far, so good could be the health care industries motto for thwarting demands for health care price transparency. Whether it's taking requesters to court or maintaining outdated systems that make it impossible to comply with request, their position is crystal clear. They don't want the public or the competition to know what they charge for their services. This allows them to charge whatever they want regardless of the cost to provide care. But how long can they keep this up?

The same has been asked of Donald Trump's poll numbers in his bid to become the next U. S. President. When everyone kept saying his demise was imminent. That one more outrageous statement would end his popularity, he continues to hold his lead as the national Republican presidential front-runner. But as Vox Media's Ezra Klein pointed out in a recent article, he still thinks Trump will lose and his loss will just happen.

That's how I feel about the health care industries efforts to stall health care price transparency indefinitely. It won't work. They've pushed the nation's and individual American’s pocketbooks to the brink and the long push back has started. Granted, they are still winning this tug of war, but the rope is fraying.

• Doctor practices like the Surgery Center of Oklahoma and hospitals like Crouse Hospital in Syracuse are posting their prices as both a competitive advantage and in anticipation of government regulation.
• Federal and state governments are compiling and sharing price information and pushing for universal online pricing and an end to balance billing. This is both good and bad for meaningful health care price transparency. Good, because we have to start somewhere and a database of prices based on what was actually paid is a good place to start. Bad, because like health care reform, the groups government have to work with to make price transparency happen are the same groups who've been holding back this information for years. They want price transparency on their terms. Which means that the end product will never be as helpful as it would be without their collaboration.
• Employers are using reference pricing and looking to tie health care reimbursement rates to Medicare reimbursement rates in order to obtain better health care prices for their group plans. Health insurers are not negotiating significant enough discounts with providers and are, therefore, passing on health care price increases to employers and workers.
• Individuals are sharing their ordeals with high medical care costs and surprise bills on social media. They are also sharing price information and providing anecdotal accounts of their encounters with provider billing services.