Ask HN: Would you share your health care costs?

1 point·tekram··5 comments

Only in health care can you agree to pay for a service and have no idea how much you are going to pay for it until a few weeks later when the bill hits. Would you be willing to share your health care costs anonymously? So that way, the next time you would need care, you could look it up and not be hit with a sticker shock.

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FYI, there is someone sort of doing this:

http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2014/09/08/stanford-termin...

Based on what I know, that data wouldn't tell you anything useful in the US.

How much you pay varies wildly based on: the treatment, the care provider, your insurance plan, and what other treatment you've received that year. One provider can charge 10 times what another provider charges for the exact same treatment.

Yes, that is what I am hoping to bring to light. There is no correlation between cost and quality of care. But these prices are not known to the average consumer who believes the same service costs the same no matter who you get it from.

Also, in some cases it is cheaper to not even put the cost through your insurance provider as the cash price might be cheaper.

I would not really see the need or have any practical way of doing that since most if not all of my medical costs is tax subsidised. But as this varies depending on where you live id definitely be open to it if there was a need

Very true. Though, most insurance providers are starting to push more of the costs on to the consumer. For me as a consumer, it is frustrating because I already pay a lot in monthly bills and then when I see a doctor three times a year, I pay the whole cost.

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