Heath Care Pricing Transparency and Consumer Rights: Health insurance cost estimator

Your health insurance website

Check your patient portal for a price estimate database. For example, customers of United HealthCare would go to MyUHC.com and after signing in, click “Find Care & Costs” then “View All Estimates.” Try entering a medical billing code or the name of a test, procedure or service. For assistance, call the customer service phone number listed on your insurance card.

• PROs:
  • Easy to compare prices for any specific service amongst all in-network providers.
  • Great for discovering health care providers with less name recognition, but which offer quality service at competitive rates.
• CONs:
  • Does not show cash prices.  Providers usually post cash prices (self-pay) for people who lack insurance, or who have insurance but choose not to use it.  The cash price could be dramatically less than what you'd pay if you use insurance, so check cash prices for all nearby providers and even in towns further away if you're willing to drive some distance for the lowest price.