The new hospital transparency rule: The deadline for posting price lists is on Jan. 1, so how did they do?

Jeanne Pinder December 30, 2020

The new hospital transparency rule: The deadline for posting price lists is on Jan. 1, so how did they do?

The new federal price transparency law is rolling out Jan. 1, 2021, mandating that hospitals have to list prices on their web sites. Describing the new rules, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services say on their website: “Hospital price transparency helps Americans know the cost of a hospital item or service before receiving it. […]

Behind the scenes at a health insurer: How the money is made, or why the Medical Loss Ratio matters

Jeanne Pinder July 3, 2019

Behind the scenes at a health insurer: How the money is made, or why the Medical Loss Ratio matters

A contributor to one of my online communities, Scott Haas, wrote this to the group the other day in the context of what happens behind the scenes in health insurance. His note primarily concerns the Medical Loss Ratio formula and the way it was changed by the Affordable Care Act — and the role of […]

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When a doctor’s recommendation turns into $2,380 in bills, or how much does an MRI cost?

Jeanne Pinder September 1, 2018

When a doctor’s recommendation turns into $2,380 in bills, or how much does an MRI cost?

A community member shared with us the bare bones of a story: Two MRI bills at an imaging center in Scarborough, Maine, resulted in a bill for $2,380. “Doctor advised ‘spinal MRI’, no indication given that procedure would be expensive or be billed separately for thoracic and lumbar regions of the spine,” wrote the community […]

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Hey there, UnitedHealthCare! Can we help you figure out how much a sleep study costs?

Jeanne Pinder July 31, 2018

Hey there, UnitedHealthCare! Can we help you figure out how much a sleep study costs?

We’re always interested in seeing who’s visiting. Today, someone from UnitedHealthCare in Plymouth, Minn., spent 6 minutes reading our post about how much a sleep study costs. Here’s a screenshot from our Clicky analytics panel. We’re happy to be providing such valuable services to the insurance industry! It’s also clear that they found us by […]

View Post colonoscopy Dupixent MRI sleep study UnitedHealthcare

How much do allergy tests cost? One woman’s reporting

Jeanne Pinder September 20, 2017

How much do allergy tests cost? One woman’s reporting

A friend said recently that she needed to get allergy tests in the New York area, but she wasn’t certain they would be covered under her insurance. She was planning to make inquiries, and I asked her to keep notes. I told her I’d post them without using her name. She writes: I’ve gotten around to culling […]

View Post allergy comparison shopping how do people use our data? Oxford shopping for health care

Hey, Humana! Can we help you figure out how much an X-ray costs?

Jeanne Pinder September 5, 2017

Hey, Humana! Can we help you figure out how much an X-ray costs?

Humana, the big health insurer, came visiting the other day to ask ClearHealthCosts how much an X-ray costs. They spent 8 minutes and 46 seconds reading this blog post. You can see on the screenshot here of our analytics program. Interestingly, they came to us via the sketchy informationvine.com search. They came lots of other […]

View Post Aetna Cigna HCA Healthcare hernia how people use our data

UnitedHealthcare came to visit us, a lot: See screenshot

Jeanne Pinder May 23, 2017

UnitedHealthcare came to visit us, a lot: See screenshot

We like it when we can educate the big incumbents in the health care arena. So when we see UnitedHealthcare spending so much time here, it makes us happy. Some of their searches: CPT vs. DRG, affordable psychotherapy, pulmonary compliance study, our “About” page, our “Team” page, a blog post about Massachusetts and Maryland as […]

View Post how do people use our data? UnitedHealthcare

How much does a brain MRI cost? Well, $250 or $1,850, or $8,000

Jeanne Pinder June 8, 2016

Summary: How much does a brain MRI cost? Well, $250 or $1,850 — or $8,000. “Had a problem with high deductible insurance. I decided not to deal with the insurance and just pay out of my HSA. The bill said my balance was $1850.00, however it also had a handwritten amount of $250.00. Not sure […]

View Post brain MRI Florida Health News Florida MRI price calculators

Under one roof: Narrow networks, and provider-owned insurers

Jeanne Pinder May 28, 2016

Summary: Very, very narrow networks are rising in popularity. These often seem to be formed by an incumbent insurance company (think Aetna or UnitedHealthcare) with a local health care system. This is an interesting phenomenon, especially given the statements by UnitedHealthcare that it’s not making enough money on the health insurance plans under the Affordable […]

View Post Aetna health plans Narrow networks provider-owned health plans UnitedHealthcare

Tag: UnitedHealthcare