# Why do we show price ranges, not hospital names?

> We show non-covered prices as ranges rather than by hospital because a table of institution names and prices can work as comparative medical advertising.

Ranges answer the reader’s real question, what a typical price is, without naming anyone.

Written by the Korea Non-covered Medical Price Statistics editorial team on October 21, 2026. Canonical address: https://kmedprice.org/articles/why-ranges-not-names.

## Which rules shape this choice?

Medical advertising rules in Article 56 of the Medical Service Act and the ban on patient inducement in Article 27.

## Where can institution prices be seen?

On HIRA’s official non-covered price service, which is the legal channel for disclosure.

## Why are small groups hidden?

With fewer than five institutions, a single price could be inferred from the range.

## How can readers verify that names are not stored?

The aggregation script is published and fails if an institution column survives.

## What can a range tell a patient?

Whether a quoted price is within the usual range for that item and hospital type.

## What should you read next?

- [Is the median or the minimum the better reference?](https://kmedprice.org/articles/median-or-minimum)
- [Does a higher price mean better care?](https://kmedprice.org/articles/higher-price-better-care)
- [Non-covered price explorer](https://kmedprice.org/tools/price-explorer)
- [Non-covered medical prices by region](https://kmedprice.org/statistics/by-region)

## Where do these numbers come from?

- [Medical Service Act (Articles 27, 45, 56)](https://www.law.go.kr/법령/의료법) - Korea Law Information Center
- [Non-covered medical fee disclosure (by item and institution)](https://www.hira.or.kr/npay/index.do) - Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA)
- [Standards for reporting and disclosure of non-covered medical fees (notice)](https://www.law.go.kr/행정규칙/비급여진료비용등의보고및공개에관한기준) - Ministry of Health and Welfare (Korea Law Information Center)