HOUSTON, June 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- How much would a patient rather pay for an MRI—$90 or $4,500?
That is the range that healthcare providers charge for an MRI of the arm joint in Houston, Texas according to CarePay, a healthcare price comparison website set to launch in the coming weeks.
The amount of money patients could save by engaging in price comparison prior to visiting the doctor can be astonishing.
For example, estimated charges for an annual wellness visit in the Washington DC area range from $122 to $405; in New York, charges range from $90 to $566.
A skin biopsy in Atlanta ranges from $98 to more than $340; in Boston, the same procedure ranges from $62 to $441.
CarePay’s launch will come just weeks after US President Donald Trump announced a new initiative targeting healthcare price transparency.
“For too long it’s been virtually impossible for Americans to know the real price and quality of healthcare services,” President Trump said. “As a result, patients face significant obstacles shopping for the best care at the best price, driving up costs for everyone.”
Having healthcare pricing information will especially help those patients most at risk, the uninsured and the underinsured.
“I have had patients deny themselves care because they don’t know how much a service will cost, or worse, be stuck with a costly bill that they didn’t expect,” said Dr. Elaina George, a member of the National Physicians Council on Healthcare Policy, at the White House event announcing the new initiative.
According to the Commonwealth Fund, in 2016 more than half of the underinsured (52%) had medical bill problems and 45 percent went without needed health care because of cost.
“We hope CarePay will help accomplish what President Trump has set out to do: put patients first by empowering them with upfront pricing information,” said CarePay co-founder Jackson Adams.
The tool, which is undergoing beta testing, will allow patients to share updated prices in a safe, anonymous way. Patients can compare these reported estimates before calling the doctor to make an appointment. CarePay will launch nationwide with over 9 million price estimates available.
CarePay is the project of Houston based company CareX Blockchain Platform, Inc. Learn more at https://carex.tech. To demo CarePay and examine healthcare prices in your area, please contact us at jackson@carex.tech