Research from HCCI's Healthy Marketplace Index on variation in service prices was featured in a report on c-sections from U.S. News & World Report.

From the article: 

"Exactly why doctors continue to perform cesareans for low-risk deliveries is a layered issue that appears more closely tied to system-level breakdowns than to individual physicians.

For example, researchers have theorized that providers may do more C-sections because the payout is better than for a vaginal delivery. Data compiled by the Health Care Cost Institute shows that across three large private insurers in 40 major metro areas in 2016, the median price of a cesarean was $9,700, while the median price of a vaginal birth was $6,867. In the New Orleans metro area, the only Louisiana city included in the analysis, the median price of a C-section was $6,396, while the median price of a vaginal delivery was $5,476."