If you need a knee replaced or heart surgery, where’s the best place to go and how much will it cost?
The short answer is simple: nobody knows.
National health care reform and a number of state efforts have boosted transparency, quality and accountability in health care, but this video still rings true because health care is still one of the only businesses where the consumer has no idea what they’ll be charged.
Today, anybody with with a phone or computer can easily compare prices and quality for everything from televisions to washing machines – and health care plans. But not health care itself.
Legislation by Rep. Eileen Cody would change that. House Bill 2572 would create a statewide database on the cost of medical procedures at clinics and hospitals. It would also give people a look at the quality of care at different places.
As this post in The Seattle Times explains, at least 11 other states are creating similar databases to give their citizens information about the price and quality of health care.
Those two pieces of information are basic to any functioning market. What if other industries operated this way? You drive home your new car after “buying it,” only learning the price when the dealership mails you the bill thirty days later?
Basic economic theory assumes that customers can compare prices and quality before they agree to buy goods or services.
A national site called Healthcare Bluebook is trying to accomplish the same thing when it comes to health care. This is a private push to find out basic price and quality information that’s now secret. The name comes from the Kelly Blue Book, a guide to average values for used cars that consumers can use to get a fair price when they trade in their car at the dealership, or buy a used car from a neighbor down the street.