There already is a massive public healthcare system in America called Medicare and Medicaid which is the root of distorted prices. The lack of price transparency adds fuel to the fire and allows those prices to stay high without any upfront awareness given to the end consumer.
A lack of price transparency is indeed deplorable, but it isn't the root of the problem. The root of the problem is that demand for emergency treatment is inelastic. Inelastic demand curves result in wildly volatile prices. And when the service is a basic human need rather than a luxury, to prioritize a free market solution is to prioritize the market over the human. Markets must operate for the good of people, not the other way around.
Price transparency is shifting deck chairs on the titanic. I actually do think the new chair arrangement is a notable improvement on the old one -- but in an industry with unaddressed tectonic issues, it's not going to right the ship.
I might be wrong. Maybe price transparency will lead to a 50% reduction in prices in the next few years. I doubt it, though.
