Why HealthPriceCompare?

By HealthPriceCompare - March 31st, 2020

In February of 2018, we were instructed by our primary care physician to get an abdominal ultrasound for our young daughter who was experiencing stomach pain. We did not think for a moment about how much we would need to pay out-of-pocket from our health savings account. Like many Americans, we were in a high deductible health insurance plan with a national carrier in an area with many providers and and expected reasonable negotiated rates for her procedure.

Imagine my surprise, as someone who has spent their career in healthcare, when we received a $1,500 bill for that 30 minute in-network, outpatient diagnostic procedure. Despite efforts with my human resources department and insurance company, they both refused to explain why my health plan had agreed to enter into a contract that paid a provider about eight times the average price of one of the most common and widely used diagnostic procedures in existence.

This was not just surprising but enlightening. Health insurance has changed considerably in the past decade with enrollees shouldering a much greater portion of deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses. This abdominal ultrasound episode taught me that we could no longer trust our insurance company to procure reasonable negotiated rates with providers for common diagnostic outpatient procedures that would likely come directly out of our pockets.

This is why HealthPriceCompare exists. Our mission is transforming available data into consumer empowering information that positively contributes to a transparent healthcare system.