I was at the local chamber of commerce today, and heard from a fellow about a colleague that wanted to shop for an MRI. He couldn’t nail down the cost, to even an approximate amount, when calling around to physicians and facilities that provide this service. If we are going to have consumer driven healthcare, then we need to be able to get at least an estimate, plus or minus 10 percent, of the cost of a routine procedure like an MRI.
I’ve been reading The Health Care Blog for a while, and today they are talking about the next Health 2.0 Conference, where the main theme is Connecting Consumers and Providers. I hope that someone is working on this information divide between the consumers and the providers, because it could be as big as Google: You put in your location and the procedure or problem, and back comes information about who can do it, how much it’ll cost, and when it can be scheduled. Just think of the preferred placement advertisements, offering round-trip airfare to exotic locations and a vacation built-in if you’re willing to undergo the procedure in another part of the world. In two words: Medical Tourism.
If you’re curious about how much things cost on average, take a look at the Medical Cost by Principal Procedure and Medical Cost by Principal Diagnosis reports that we created as part of the Get a Good Deal on Your Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped-Off BookSite. The information is based on data extracted from the U.S. Government’s AHRQ database.
Jonathan Pletzke is a consumer expert on health insurance and author of the health insurance book Get a Good Deal on Your Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped-Off, available online and at bookstores nationally. Additional details can be found at the consumers health insurance book and resources website www.BestHealthInsuranceBook.com. Copyright 2007-2008 Aji Publishing.
Tags: Consumer Driven Health Insurance · Health Insurance Shopping · Healthcare · Medical Tourism1 Comment
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As a consumer advocate for price transparency I recently launched a tool to help consumers look-up/compare prices and find the best value for routine health care services in their area. The website, www.outofpocket.com is a platform for collecting and sharing health care prices and collects “real” prices from several different sources including:
(1) Consumer Generated Content: Consumers anonymously post prices they paid for routine health care services, (including MRIs, mammograms, X-rays, lab tests, vaccinations, dental, vision and office visits), along with their personal recommendations on the provider
(2) Providers that Disclose Pricing: Providers are invited to submit true prices for their services for inclusion in the directory
(3) Government CMS: Medicare price data for common medical procedures has been loaded in the directory
Every consumer is invited to post prices in this directory - including the insured and uninsured. This free website is a service of Flying Aces Technology, Inc. and I welcome all your comments on this grassroots initiative.
Mona Lori
Principal
www.outofpocket.com