Yes, I understand how histogram statistics work... my point was that if you bind a value which the CBO would be interested in... it is only going to come up with one execution plan for the query, regardless of which value it is executed with.

Or am I just misunderstanding what you are saying? Is there some hint I don't know of yet... something along the lines of: /*+ force_reparse_after_parameter_substitution */? If so, I'd love to hear it... because it would be really useful for me in a few situations. Situations where an application only allows for a query to be parameterized by bind values... and I want the query to be parametrizable, but not to suffer the hamstringing of the CBO that bind parameters are causing.