The federal health overhaul seeks to limit excessive insurance increases. But there are no such limits on how much hospitals can charge insurance companies for medical care. And why should all that matter to you? As hospitals in California have consolidated into large chains, they've been able to set take-it-or-leave-it prices -- and those prices get passed on to you.

[This story was reported in collaboration with Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.]