from Hacker News

I tried to find out how much my son's birth would cost. No one would tell me

by lkurtz on 5/11/16, 8:38 PM with 11 comments

  • by anywhichway on 5/11/16, 9:44 PM

    My company has developed several tools to answer these kinds of questions. One of which is publicly available and done for a non-profit: http://guroo.com, which lacks provider specific detail, but has averages for many different types of services by geographic area. It is a neat tool, that is a step in the right direction, but is unfortunately not very actionable. The data is based on 40 million insured individuals.

    Another tool has provider specific detail, but is only available to the members of select insurance companies. It uses data specific to that company's historic provider data and negotiated rates.

    More employers are moving to high deductible health plans with health savings accounts and are looking for insurance companies to provide more tools to help guide members choices. Giving members increased incentives to make good healthcare decisions doesn't do any good unless the members have the tools needed to make informed decisions.

  • by devhead on 5/11/16, 8:53 PM

    the real answer is: they will charge as much as your insurance will accept. Then your insurance will "negotiate" a lower amount based on their leverage, data and other closely guarded policies.

  • by coreyp_1 on 5/11/16, 8:53 PM

    If the FTC can force Funeral Homes to make their prices public (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_Rule), then why can't they do the same for hospitals?

  • by doctorwho on 5/11/16, 10:36 PM

    As a Canadian this is something that would have never crossed my mind. I just go to the hospital/doctor without any thought of how much it's going to cost me. I suppose this is why "home birth" became a thing.

  • by woodandsteel on 5/12/16, 12:08 AM

    Can't find out medical prices? But conservatives tell us again and again that we have by far the best medical delivery system in the world. I guess the conclusion is that medical corporations (which is what hospitals are these days) work better when they don't have to reveal what they are charging.