Most of us are clueless about our medical costs
By Michelle Singletary
WASHINGTON — As much as many consumers hate shopping for cars, that's nothing compared with trying to price out a medical procedure or a routine visit to the doctor.
There's really no reason you shouldn't get the best deal on a car. There are many resources available with the most up-to-date dollar figures on how much it costs to buy a certain model and anything in it.
But try finding out the cost for a knee repair or giving birth by a cesarean section. More people probably know the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden than the average cost of their health services.
In fact, one survey found that the typical consumer could predict the price of a Honda Accord to within $1,000, but was off by about $12,000 in estimating the average cost of a four-day hospital stay. People guessed an average of $7,762, but the cost was $20,000.
When it came to the cost of a routine doctor's office visit, respondents guessed an average of $95, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive for employee benefits provider Great-West Healthcare.
The actual average cost of a doctor's visit is $200. For emergency room visits, respondents estimated $680. The cost was actually lower, $400.
More than half of those who responded to the survey did not know the cost of treatment until it was received (68 percent), and 11 percent revealed they never found out the cost.
Many people fortunate enough to be covered by a employer health plan haven't been paying attention to health costs because we counted on our health insurance carrier to negotiate the price. We pay our annual premiums and, if required, fork over our co-payments and let the insurers deal with the rest of the bill.
But increasingly, workers are being pushed into consumerdirected health plans that are supposed to encourage people to look for lower-cost medical services. These plans often come with high deductibles, meaning that more employees will have to pay more out of pocket before benefits kick in.
And this means more people will need to know what their medical services cost to determine if it's worth switching to a consumer-driven plan.
But where do you get that information on medical costs? It's not like there's a handy dandy price guide sold in bookstores. To determine what you will pay, you'll have to do some research, and perhaps pay for the pricing information.
So before you decide, try the following resources:
There's no question that figuring out your annual medical costs and what health plan is best won't be easy. It's definitely not as easy as pricing out a Honda Accord, fully loaded. But when it comes to your health care, spend at least the same amount of time calculating the costs as you do pricing out your new ride.
