Shop for Care

• If you don’t have insurance, use the information to help you choose a facility and discuss prices and payment plans with them.
• If you have insurance, ask your insurance company directly what you will owe. It still helps to use the price tool to compare prices. Higher health care costs for your insurer can lead to higher premiums in the future.

Health care pricing is complex. It can be hard to understand your costs before you have the service and get the bill. Here are some helpful things to know:

• Prices vary based on your insurance company. Facilities (hospitals, imaging centers, surgery centers, etc.) can have one price for one insurance company, a different price for another, and a still another price for people with no insurance.
• The price you will pay depends on your insurance plan, if you have one. Different plans ask you to pay more or less of the total price depending on your deductible (the amount you pay before insurance starts paying), co-pays (amount you pay for a service) or coinsurance (percent of the price you pay for a service).
• The facility and the doctors you see may all have separate fees. In the Shop for Care tool, the prices in the “Imaging” tab include only facility fees. Prices in the “Other Services” tab include fees for all services before, during, and after the procedure.
• A higher price doesn’t mean better care. Use the “Quality” column in the tool to look at quality as well as price.

For more information about health care prices, see “Understanding Prices: A Consumer Guide” from the American Hospital Association.