Now I am not going talk about going to doctor to doctor and see what they charge. There is a website that will tell you what the medical procedure will cost http://www.healthgrades.com and says that you will have the ability to negotiate on the price. Consumers can now obtain average prices for more than 55 hospital-based procedures around the country, ranging from baby deliveries to liver biopsies to bypass and cataract surgeries. The cost of a the report is $7.95
A recent Today show money segment explained what you get for this report.
There are three different prices:
1. List price This is the average amount paid by the uninsured. Prices are generally higher than the what they insured pay.
2. Negotiated amount that insurance companies generally pay in your region. It is about 45% of the list price.
3. Average out-of-pocket fees for insured patients.
Many health care procedures are negotiable and if you have the information on what other are paying, you will be an informed consumer.
Look at these prices only as a benchmark, not your actual dollar cost," suggests Shapiro. HealthGrades based the prices on data received from 80 different health plans. The cost is an aggregate of many different types of patients with varying levels of health. Your bill will depend on the inputs for your procedure, which will vary by severity of illness, fragility of the patient, and other risk factors. For example, the physician may need to do more preliminary tests on one patient than another, which will affect the price. But it does give you something you were lacking previously: A place to begin negotiations.
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Free detailed comparison reports for hosptital costs and quality are available at http://www.UCompareHealthCare.com
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