Wow: The City Council actually did something good!

On a vote of 50-0, it passed the bill from Julie Menin (D-Manhattan) to force far greater transparency on city hospital pricing.

With Mayor Eric Adams’ signature, it will create a new office of “health care accountability” to help the public compare the prices of medical procedures at various hospitals, public and private.

Hopes are that this will save the city up to $2 billion a year by driving down what it pays for health care.

Regular consumers can save, too, as the new office shares the charges for common hospital procedures on its website in a “simplified and publicly accessible format.”

Beyond creating a sense that patients and their insurers are overcharged, hospital-pricing seems illogical, haphazard and unmoored from reality.

It’s an open secret that most hospitals set specific prices almost randomly, with no reference to their actual costs to perform a given service, eying only how much total cash they need and what they think they can get away with.

This is only a small step toward a more rational system, but it’s a meaningful one that could resonate nationwide. Kudos to Menin, Speaker Adrienne Adams and the rest for taking it.