TTA Archives 2005-2012

Critical mass around consumer ‘comparison shopping’ of healthcare costs in the US is gaining. Companies such as Castlight Health and GoHealth have provided comparisons for insurers and businesses. Several companies such as FairCareMD, SnapHealth and others have targeted the ‘cash-only’ customer with doctors who will provide competitive pricing in an ‘open marketplace’. ClearHealthCosts has taken a different approach in actively shopping multiple providers and pricing for about 30 common procedures in New York City and San Francisco; where survey data is not available, Medicare pricing is used. According to founder Jeanne Pinder at the 31 July Health 2.0 NYC meeting–Pinder is a journalist who started it as part of a program at City University of New York (CUNY)–the target audience are those who are insured on high-deductible plans, the uninsured, those with high co-pays and self-insured employers. She plans to expand to 33 more cities by end of 2013, with the aid of $750,000 in funding. Medicine’s Kayak.com? (MedCityNews)