Consumers skeptical about the real cost of health care will soon have a resource where they can ask and share with their neighbors the price of common medical procedures.
Health News Florida in April will be launching PriceCheck, a database that blends together prices we’ve collected with information from consumers living in South Florida and the Tampa Bay area.
We’re teaming up with ClearHealthCosts.com, a journalism start-up that aims to allow consumers to pull back the curtain on health care costs. While lawmakers in Tallahassee and Washington D.C. are talking about policies to make health care companies report prices, this is the first project that puts the consumers in charge.
“People should know what things cost in health care,” said Jeanne Pinder, a veteran health care journalist and founder of ClearHealthCosts.com. “We’ll use the power of our communities to reveal the secrets of the marketplace, and join hands to make this opaque system more transparent.”
Our reporters at WUSF in Tampa and WLRN in Miami will break down the complicated nuances of insurance paperwork, and bring you stories of consumers navigating these bills.
Most importantly, we will show you how to use the PriceCheck database to see prices on procedures from MRIs to sleep studies, and how to safely share the costs of your health care.
We’ll be sharing a lot more about PriceCheck in the coming months. So stay tuned and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter - @HealthNewsFL.
Mary Shedden reports for WUSF in Tampa. Health News Florida receives support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
