Consumers today have an abundance of resources to help them compare prices for healthcare services.
Here are some places consumers can look to shop around for the best deal, as outlined in a recent report from The Wall Street Journal.
1. Online tools from insurers. Aetna, for example, offers a member payment estimator where members can estimate the out-of-pocket cost for common office visits and procedures at different in-network providers.
2. Pricing Healthcare. This resource, an independent, online marketplace for direct-pay healthcare, allows consumers to search for current cash rates at hospitals and surgical centers around the nation, by procedure, by location and by facility type, for free.
3. Healthcare Bluebook. Healthcare Bluebook allows consumers to search for "fair" prices for services in specific ZIP Codes via an online database.
4. New Choice Health. This resource, a free, consumer-focused healthcare marketplace, allows consumers to shop prices online for common medical procedures in their area.
5. Clearhealthcosts.com. On this website, consumers can view cash prices for health services in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and the Texas cities of Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. According to The Wall Street Journal, the resource also offers crowdsourced information from thousands of consumers, providing some insight into how insured rates differ.
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