WHAT IS THE COST OF MY MEDICAL PROCEDURE?
Have you ever had a procedure done and been shocked at what the medical procedure cost? Many find that they are shocked at the bill they receive for their procedure once that procedure is done.
Have you ever wished that you could find what a procedure might cost in advance? Wouldn't it be nice to prepare yourself for these costs in advance?
Today I am featuring a website and concept that I find very valuable. This website can help assist you with your questions regarding cost before your next medical procedure.
Why do I recommend ProcedureRates.com?
In my current full-time job, I work in medical billing. In my job, I often see balances that become patient financial responsibility. The majority of patients receive a bill soon after their procedure is completed. Medical billing and patient balances remain a mystery to most people. Many are repeatedly surprised by unexpected healthcare costs. Why not prepare in advance next time for these unexpected costs. You can do this by checking your benefits in advance and using this website in the future. You can learn approximately what your financial responsibility should be before you ever receive a bill. In most cases I tell my patient's when I speak with them, to contact their insurance directly with questions. Member Services is available for most companies to help you with your policy-related questions.
What will my surgery or procedure cost me?
This is a question that many of us ask ourselves. Unfortunately, many of us do not start asking ourselves until after the procedure has been performed. As a Medical Biller, I recognize that this question is not always easy to answer. This website, however, offers an option that many do not realize exists. This website allows you to plug in some basic information and get an estimate before it is performed.
Will I have a large out of pocket cost for my surgery?
This question can be best answered by your individual insurance company. The tool here from Procedure rates can offer a great estimate but the best answer would better be answered by reviewing your policy or calling your insurance company directly.
Understanding Your Medical Benefits Before Your Medical Procedure
Most people accept a medical policy and never fully understand the fine print or what is really covered by their insurance. I suggest that you always take responsibility in advance to check your benefits so that you know what percentage you will owe of your healthcare costs and if you have a deductible to meet in advance.
Below I share the story of a company that recognizes that raising patient awareness on their financial responsibility is important. This company realizes that giving patient access to discover the cost of a procedure in advance is very valuable and beneficial. I highly recommend checking out their website for yourself. Research more about procedures costs before it is done the next time you are having one.
Caution This Is Not Medical
Or Financial Advice
I also caution you to not allow the cost to keep you from a necessary procedure. Do not take any of this as medical advice. What this is not... It is not, advice for or against a procedure or a guarantee of any sort of your financial obligations.
What is this tool from Procedurerates.com?
What it is..... a resource provided by procedurerates.com to assist you in understanding the cost of your medical procedures. Their website tools are a great way to prepare yourself in advance for upcoming healthcare costs. I always recommend learning more about your insurance policy in advance. Understanding what is covered and non covered can save you a lot of money. I suggest highly that you pay close attention to the covered benefits when selecting your coverage this year. Below is a summary from Alex Co-Founder Alex of their mission and goals.
Without any further introduction, I will allow Alex Co-Founder of ProcedureRates.com to share more about their company and website.
Our Story
"As you may be aware, recent regulation requires hospitals in the US to post their prices online. An idea popped into our heads - what if we aggregated all this new data and allowed users to search prices across hospitals? Well, in theory, this sounded like a good plan, but as we discovered, prices that hospitals list have little value to patients. In fact, the numbers are relatively meaningless because the prices patients will pay to the hospital have more to do with the rates negotiated between the insurance companies and the providers - than the hospital list prices. So we took a different approach to solve this problem.
How Do I Find The Cost Of My Medical Procedure?
Using similar technology that search engines like Google use to crawl the web and make the data searchable, we applied this methodology to gather more relevant prices via publicly available data on the web. After many months of perfecting our crawlers to gather the relevant data, we succeeded in capturing the approximate rates for 600+ common procedures, in the 100 largest cities in the US. While the prices are not the exact figure patients will pay, and certainly exclude many other ancillary services - the ballpark figures give a general idea of what out of pocket expenses may be.
Location To Location The Covered Rates May Vary
And what is most interesting to users is that rates for the same procedure vary tremendously between hospitals within the same city, and of course other cities. It is common for patients to travel to countries like Mexico to save money on medical procedures, but what if similar savings can be achieved by driving to another state or a nearby city? These are the insights we hope to help our users discover by utilizing the ProcedureRates.com website.
The Mission And Goals
Our mission and goals are simple - eliminate surprise out of pocket fees, and help make the most informed financial decisions when choosing the location to perform a medical procedure. We emphasize that patients and caregivers should not rely solely on data on our site to make important health-based decisions, but rather to factor it into their overall decision-making process. "
Wrapping it up and my recommendation before your procedure
Now that you have heard more about it go now and check your procedure on their website. procedurerates.com can give you an idea of what to expect to pay and any further questions call your insurance company for details. Be sure to question any copay, copayment and deductible balances that may be charged to you.
I want to thank Alex co-founder of procedurerates.com for sharing this great free tool with me and my readers today. I encourage you to check it out and see for yourself how it works and how it can help you be more prepared financially in the future.
WHAT IS THE COST OF MY MEDICAL PROCEDURE?
