Six Companies Pushing for Transparency in Healthcare Pricing - GOOD
Part of my series over at GOOD about fixing the sickness industry with good design.
Great article. GE switched to one of the newer systems requiring the first $___ out of pocket to get people to actually try to lower their health care costs. (I think this is a good thing.)
I’m dealing with this very problem right now too - I need to have a few sessions of physical therapy for my knee after I had some hiking issues. Nothing major. I called my doctor-recommend PT center and asked about costs and was met with a very confused receptionist. In fact, it sounded like no one had EVER asked her that question before - “how much will this cost?” I called multiple times trying to get an answer, they say they’ll call me & let me know…but 2 weeks later, still no appointment. I’m looking elsewhere now.
After this occurred I realized just how little insured people pay attention to their health care costs. Most who have insurance just call, make an appointment, pay their $30 copay, and never see or worry how much the insurance company paid for that care. It’s a horrible system - there are no incentives to make ANY efficiencies or create competitive pricing, and continues to drive costs up. And who does this hurt the most? Probably the uninsured.
We need more transparency, openness and competition in health care, having the government dig in even deeper will have the opposite effect.
