Comparing prices, whether you’re choosing a new doctor or undergoing surgery, is one of the smartest things you can do as a health care consumer. Costs will likely vary widely between providers and facilities—doing your homework could save you thousands of dollars.
Thanks to consumer demand for cost transparency, as well as new rules put in place by the Affordable Care Act, cost information for common procedures is now widely available online.
The following health care cost comparison tools are all free, but some may require the creation of a free account. Note that the descriptions here were taken from the websites listed and aren’t verified or endorsed by Doctors for Truth in Health Care.
FAIR Health Consumer Cost Lookup
fairhealthconsumer.org
FAIR Health uses its database of billions of billed medical and dental services to power a free website that enables consumers to estimate and plan their medical and dental expenditures. The website also offers clear, unbiased educational articles and videos about the health care insurance reimbursement system.
Healthcare Bluebook
healthcarebluebook.com
Healthcare Bluebook is a free resource that shows a fair price for health care products and services to consumers. Healthcare Bluebook is a consumer-friendly tool that helps consumers quickly and easily understand what they should pay for the health care services they need.
Guroo
guroo.com
Guroo puts actual cost information in consumers’ hands—your hands. Guroo.com was created by the Health Care Cost Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization with one simple goal: to give you honest, clear insight into real health care costs.
OpsCost
opscost.com
Compare charges for common procedures at over 3,300 hospitals, sourced from government data and user reported bills. OpsCost is designed to increase transparency in health care pricing by making public data more accessible and by helping individuals share the bills they have received. OpsCost is not affiliated with any company, lobby, trade group or government agency involved with health care.
New Choice Health
newchoicehealth.com
NewChoiceHealth.com is designed to give you, the health care consumer, the ability to make informed decisions about where to access common medical procedures regardless of your insurance type. With NewChoiceHealth.com you can easily locate medical facilities offering the procedure you need and then compare accreditations, number of procedures completed, and procedure cost information. You can also request a no-obligation quote from participating medical facilities for common procedures such as MRIs, CT scans, mammograms, and more.