In Continued Push For Transparency, CMS Takes Steps Toward Developing Price Comparison Tool For Consumers
Some experts have already dismissed the tool as unlikely to actually help save costs, though. "Ask any hospital, lab or physician the price of anything and all you ever get back is a question: 'What insurance do you have?' " said Steven Weissman, an attorney and former hospital president. "Each patient's price depends on how much can be extracted."
Modern Healthcare:
CMS Seeks Help Creating Consumer Price Comparison Tool
The CMS started the process of searching for a company to help create a price comparison tool for consumers. It has released a sources sought notice to see if any companies have the expertise to perform such work. A formal request for proposals for the work could be released later depending on the responses the agency receives to the CMS query on what would be a transparency-focused web portal. (Dickson, 8/28)
In other news on health care costs —
The Washington Post:
A Heart Attack Left Him With A $109,000 Bill. His Story Aired, And Now He Owes $782.
First, Drew Calver had an unexpected heart attack, collapsing in his bedroom on a spring morning in 2017. Then came the bill: $164,941 for his four-day hospital stay, which included the cost of having four stents put in a clogged artery. As a teacher and swim coach at a public high school in Austin, where he lives with his wife and two daughters, Calver is luckier than some, with health insurance provided to him by Aetna. But even after the insurance kicked in and covered $56,000, Calver was left with nearly $109,000 in unpaid fees billed to him by the hospital. (Rosenberg, 8/28)
Read The Original KHN Story: A Jolt To The Jugular! You’re Insured But Still Owe $109K For Your Heart Attack
