The HealthPriceCompare Blog

Hospital standard charges refer to the publicly published prices for various medical services, procedures, and supplies offered by a healthcare facility. Its purpose is to ensure transparency in health care prices for consumers, employers, payers and...

Patients face a different healthcare environment now versus the one that existed before Covid. ...

Patients have now become the new payers due to fundamental shifts disrupting and redefining healthcare. The American healthcare system’s traditional reliance on third-party payment that has shielded patients from the actual cost of the care being r...

Sleep is in. Not that it was ever out but it is now more popular than ever with a newfound realization of the short and long-term health benefits of consistent and adequate shut-eye. A sleep study, known technically as polysomnography, is a medical t...

An endoscopy procedure is a medical examination that involves the use of an endoscope, which is a flexible tube with a light and a camera attached to it. This instrument allows doctors to visualize and examine the interior of various organs and struc...

An ultrasound, also known as ultrasonography, is a medical imaging technique that uses high-frequency sound waves to create real-time images of the internal structures of the body. It is commonly used for diagnostic purposes to visualize organs, tiss...

The cost of a mammogram can vary depending on various factors, including whether it’s for screening or diagnostic purposes, the location, the insurance contracted prices in effect between your insurance company and provider and the individual's typ...

In healthcare, the term discounted cash price refers to the reduced price that providers offer patients who pay for their medical services or treatments upfront, in cash, and without involving any insurance or third-party payer. It is an alternative ...

The cost differences between emergency care and urgent care can vary depending on several factors, including the specific healthcare provider, location, and the nature of the medical condition. Emergency care generally tends to be more expensive than...

Understanding the difference between the emergency room (ER) and urgent care centers can help you choose the most appropriate healthcare facility for your needs. While the ER is crucial for receiving timely and appropriate medical care, urgent care ...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced a record change to the amounts that can be contributed to a health savings account (HSA) in 2024. Starting in 2024, the maximum HSA contribution for self-only coverage will increase to $4,150, a 7...

A health insurance deductible is the amount of money that a policyholder must pay out of pocket for covered medical services before their insurance plan starts to pay for medical expenses. Deductibles vary depending on the insurance plan and can rang...

Insurance contracted prices, also known as negotiated rates or in-network rates, refer to the pre-established prices that healthcare providers agree to accept from insurance companies for their services. These prices are set through negotiations betw...

Short-term, limited-duration insurance (STLDI) is a type of health insurance that provides limited coverage and benefits for a period of as little as a month to as long as three years. These plans may offer coverage for some of the same types of heal...

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) (link) scans, also known as nuclear medicine studies, are a type of imaging study that visualizes biochemical changes taking place in the body and measures metabolic activity of the cells of body tissues. Used mostl...

A PET scan is the combination of PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and CT (Computed Tomography) scans. By using radiation to show activity in the body on a cellular level, it can help detect health issues and conditions at the functional level by cr...

The availability of healthcare price, distance and quality information has empowered patients to make more informed decisions than ever before when deciding on a provider. While entrenched healthcare business interests contend that healthcare purchas...

MRI and CT scans are powerful, safe and pain free non-invasive imaging techniques that help diagnose a wide range of medical conditions by locating the problem, confirming the diagnosis, and guiding treatment. Both types of scans have similar uses bu...

The cost of a CT scan generally depends on the specific type of exam and the area being imaged. Limb and abdomen images tend to cost less than images of the spinal cord and brain. A knee joint can cost in the $220 to $3,000 range while a CT scan of t...

A computed tomography (CT) scan, also called a CAT scan, is a medical imaging diagnostic procedure that uses rotating x-ray machines to provide a detailed cross-sectional view of the inside of the body that shows soft tissue, blood vessels, and bones...

The pain in your neck is too much to bear. Or perhaps your teenager got hit in the head playing sports. Either way, you need an MRI to have the problem examined. So where should you go to get your procedure done?Most people just go where their physic...

MRIs are a commonly used diagnostic tools in medicine. The first 2D and 3D MRI images were created in 1973 and its inventors would go on to be jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in 1973 for its development. Why Does an MRI Cost So Much?If your doctor ha...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) produces quality images that enable the creation of comprehensive reports on the functionality and health of the body. It offers an assemblage of diagnostic procedures that can be used to identify health related issue...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a safe and pain-free imaging technique that uses a combination of magnets and radio waves to produce detailed images of the body. This powerful yet noninvasive imaging device uses magnets and radio waves to produce...

Since their creation in 2003, health savings accounts (HSA) have proven to be an attractive option for health plan enrollees who are also enrolled in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). In the past decade alone, the number of HSAs has grown from 6 ...

If you are like many American healthcare consumers, you are enrolled in a calendar-based high deductible health insurance plan that resets its cost sharing requirements at the end of each year. This means that any progress you made towards reaching y...

High-deductible health plans are defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as any plan with a deductible of at least $1,500 for an individual and $3,000 for a family. In addition to these deductible figures, yearly out-of-pocket expenses (deducti...

Effectively shopping for healthcare is a novel concept for those who have never had to pay for medical expenses directly out-of-pocket. With the continued growth of high-deductible health insurance plans and their considerable up-front cost sharing r...

Healthcare is expensive. So are cell phones, airplane tickets and automobiles. But what makes healthcare different from these three commonly purchased consumer items?Unlike healthcare, consumers making purchasing decisions for an iPhone, a plane tick...

If you find yourself uninsured and need medical care, what should you do? If you are reading this, you have taken a good first step. This post is a condensed step-by-step approach to shopping for necessary medical care if you are uninsured.1) Did you...

What if you cannot pay a medical bill? Fortunately, federal consumer protection laws offer some measure of protection. In addition, medical debt, in recognition of the unpredictability of necessary medical care, is treated more leniently than regular...

Unexpected medical expenses happen. You may have a high-deductible health plan or short-term medical insurance where the benefit kicks in after you pay thousands of dollars in up-front out-of-pocket costs. Or you may be uninsured and do not qualify f...