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I like the concept in general but it's infeasible here in the US for a third party to survey prices and post results. Insurance plans renegotiate individual pr
by wyldfire 9y ago
I like the concept in general but it's infeasible here in the US for a third party to survey prices and post results. Insurance plans renegotiate individual prices with providers, and each plan decides on coverage. The only way it could change would be if providers (and insurers) were to do it on their own, but they have no motivation to do so. I think only regulation or a seriously disruptive/innovative competitive force could do this.
- tedunangst 9y agoHospitals should be required to post price sheets. If they take a dozen insurance plans with negotiated prices, then they post a dozen price lists. There's no way this should be secret.
- refurb 9y agoThey already do, they are called chargemasters. However, they don't post the negotiated price lists since they have hundreds of contracts and thus hundreds of lists.
- hathawsh 9y agoCheck this out: https://www.oshpd.ca.gov/chargemaster/default.aspx https://www.oshpd.ca.gov/chargemaster/default.aspx You can download chargemasters for many (most?) California hospitals, over the past 10 years, in Excel format. I downloaded one sample and it has a list of 3700 prices, some of which are as high as $84,000. I'm really happy to discover this resource exists, but is anyone republishing the prices in a format consumers can work with? These sheets need UX design.