As much as many consumers hate shopping for cars, that’s nothing compared with trying to price out a medical procedure or a routine visit to the doctor.
There’s really no reason you shouldn’t get the best deal on a car. There are many resources available on how much it costs to buy a certain model and anything in it.
But try finding out the cost for a knee repair or giving birth by cesarean section. More people probably know the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden than the average cost of their health services.
One consumer health care survey found that the typical consumer could predict the price of a Honda Accord to within $1,000, but was off by about $12,000 in estimating the average cost of a four-day hospital stay. People guessed an average of $7,762 when the cost was $20,000.
When it came to the cost of a routine doctor’s office visit, respondents guessed an average of $95, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for employee benefits provider Great-West Healthcare.
The actual average cost for a doctor’s visit? It was $200.
Many people fortunate enough to be covered by a employer health plan haven’t been paying attention to costs. We pay our annual premiums and, if required, fork over our co-payments and let the insurers deal with the rest.
But increasingly, workers are being pushed into consumer-directed health plans that are supposed to encourage people to look for lower-cost medical services. These plans often come with high deductibles.
This means more people will need to know what their medical services cost to determine if it’s worth switching to a consumer-driven plan.
But where do you get that information? You’ll have to do some research.
Try the following resources:
- Humana Inc., in partnership with advocacy group Consumer Action, has created a free website (familyhealthbudget.com) that includes a family health budget planner.
You will find a number of tools to help you choose the best health care plan and benefits. The planner takes you through a step-by-step questionnaire.
Once you’ve entered the information, you get a calculation of how much you need to set aside for health expenses for the year.
- WageWorks Inc. (wageworks.com), a provider of consumer-driven tax-advantaged spending accounts for health and dependent care, has a health care flexible spending account – FSA – calculator. An FSA lets you set aside a certain amount of money before taxes to pay for qualified medical expenses. The calculator helps you figure out if this type of account is right for you.
- eHealthInsurance (ehealthinsurance.com) is a good source for people not covered by an employee health plan and who need to buy their own insurance. You’ll find a large selection of health plans and the ability to compare costs.
- HealthDecisions.org will give you information on 1,300 health plans and agents and brokers nationwide.
- HealthGrades Inc. (healthgrades.com) is a health care ratings company based in Golden that sells reports on the cost of 55 medical procedures, based on regional averages of payments made by health plans. One report costs $7.95, but if you are facing a high deductible, it’s worth the price.
You can also get physician reports, which include the amount individual physicians are paid by Medicare for more than 100 types of procedures and visits.
HealthGrades also offers hospital ratings of 28 procedures and diagnoses at more than 5,000 non-federal hospitals free of charge. If you know you’ll need to be hospitalized, for $17.95 ($2.95 for subsequent reports) you can get a more detailed hospital report that looks at the price of nearly 100 procedures.
Before you buy a report, check with your employer, because HealthGrades works with 125 major corporations to provide them for free, according to Scott Shapiro, HealthGrades vice president for corporate communications.
There’s no question that figuring out your annual medical costs and what health plan is best won’t be easy. It’s definitely not as easy as pricing out a Honda Accord, fully loaded. But when it comes to your health care, spend at least the same amount of time calculating the costs as you do pricing out your new ride.
Contact Michelle Singletary at singletarym@washpost.com or c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071.
