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May 14, 2013 by Aaron Leave a Comment

Actually Using The HealthCare Blue Book

healthcare bluebook
Learn how to use Healthcare Bluebook to save you money on your healthcare. Image from Google Play

This is a follow up to my last post about the health care costs website www.healthcarebluebook.com. If you haven’t checked it out yet, give it a read. Basically, the site is a resource that has “fair” prices for medical procedures that can then be used to help you haggle down your healthcare costs. A practice that can be very valuable for cash pay patients that either do not have insurance, or coverage to adopt as practically all the health care in the US is grossly overpriced. What’s more, most providers are more than willing to offer cash pay discounts and bend on their prices for non-insured patients. I am reminded of the old truth that it “never hurts to ask”, because, who knows, you might just get what you ask for.

Anyway, I recently got a question from a reader about how to actually get the fair prices mentioned referenced on the site.  This got me thinking about providing some more detailed instructions on what the site was good for using the site to reduce your health care bills.

First, I scoured the interwebs for responses from other people that have used the service to try and find out exactly how useful the service is. I was largely unable to find anything from actual patients that have used the service in the past, only news stories talking about the site.. odd. (I would love to hear from anybody who has successfully used the site to reduce their bills!)

Here are the basic instructions taken directly from the site (link to more FAQs about their service):

How do I ask for a price?

Many people are apprehensive when it comes to asking providers about prices, but don’t be afraid to ask. Providers expect patients to ask about treatment cost. You will find requesting a price from a provider surprisingly easy – just follow these steps:

  1. Know what specific service you need – Write down the name of the service and, if possible, ask your doctor to provide the billing codes for the services. (These codes are called CPT codes for doctor’s office visits, and DRG codes for hospital treatments.) The more specific you can be the easier it is for a provider to give you a price.
  2. Determine what a fair price is – Before calling a provider to request a price, look up the services on the Healthcare Blue Book website and write down the price. If you can’t find your service, then submit a request to Healthcare Blue Book to see if we can find the fair price.
  3. Call the office staff – Ask to speak with the person on their staff who can discuss pricing.
  4. Make sure to let them know the insurance company you are using or if you are paying for the service yourself – If you are using an insurance provider network, then you will get the insurance company’s discount. If you are paying for the service yourself, make sure to ask for a self-pay discount.
  5. Ask what their price is for the service you need – If your treatment is a surgical procedure, make sure to ask about pricing for all components of care, including the surgeon, hospital and anesthesia fees. Also ask if there are any fees related to the procedure that you have not covered in your conversation.

If my provider’s price is higher than the Healthcare Blue Book fair price how do I get a lower price?

If you are using an insurance provider network, you will need to call other in-network providers to request their pricing. Most network providers have to use the network rates. You may also contact your insurance company and ask them to help you locate a different provider.

If you are paying for your own services, then you can either ask your provider for a discount or call other providers to request their pricing. It is OK to ask the provider if they will accept Healthcare Blue Book price. If the provider is not comfortable with the Blue Book fair price, then ask them what they accept as payment from Blue Cross/Blue Shield patients for the service. (Why should you have to pay more than the other patients they treat when you are paying cash?)

Most providers understand that cash paying customers want the best value, and many will give a discount. However, the first provider you call may not offer a price that you are willing to accept. It is helpful to request prices from at least three providers before making a decision.

As you can see from the description above, negotiating for the best prices may not be an easy task. If you lack health insurance, and need healthcare it is definitely in your best interests to do some haggling. Because, as I said above, most providers are very willing to offer at least a token cash pay discount, and some might be willing to offer significant price cuts. They already give huge discounts to their insured patients, and paying in cash also reduces their overhead when it comes to billing and managing insurance claims. A little time and effort can end up saving you thousands of dollars.

Hope this is of some help. Again, I would really love to hear from someone who has actually used the site’s fair prices in their negotiations, and what their experience was. If anyone has any questions feel free to post them in the comments.

Filed Under: insurance, paying for fertility Tagged With: health care blue book

April 10, 2013 by Aaron Leave a Comment

Healthcare Bluebook Gives You Fair Prices for Medical Treatment

healthcare bluebook
Find out how Healthcare Bluebook can save you money. Image from Google Play

One of the problems with healthcare is that costs are typically not very transparent. This makes it very difficult for consumers to shop around for the “cheapest” provider in town. If you are able to obtain prices for the services you need, how are you going to be able to know if they are fair or overpriced? This is a big problem for the millions of people with no health insurance. If you do have insurance, it can be helpful to know if the “non-covered” services are priced fairly or not.

Most providers bill out one amount to insurance companies, while being willing to accept a lower (sometimes much lower) amount upfront from cash pay patients. As a default, all patients are charged this standard billing rate, but providers are often very willing to accept a lower price for their services. The problem has always been, what is a good price? Healthcare Bluebook website is just the place to go for an answer.

Healthcare Bluebook aims to help fix all the confusion by publishing fair prices for a large variety of medical and dental procedures. The prices are different depending on your area and are pulled from industry data from healthcare providers and employers all over the country. According to the site these prices are what you should expect to pay a quality provider for the particular service. These prices are best used as a basis for bargaining your bill down before they are actually carried out. They offer a printable pricing agreement for each service that can aid your efforts to lock in that lower price. It is still possible to bargain after a service is carried out, just more difficult.

The site offers tips on how to use their fair pricing data and instructions on how to bargain down your costs. I found the information very helpful, and have already recommended it to a cousin of mine that is in need for a teeth cleaning, but doesn’t currently have insurance and had no idea where to start looking.

While the site is more useful for those of us without health insurance, it can also be valuable for those of us with insurance. Either way it pays to be an informed consumer, and Healthcare Bluebook certainly helps in that regard. So check out the site if you don’t have insurance and need some medical care, it could save you a bundle on your medical or dental work.

Cheers!

Filed Under: Infertility News, insurance Tagged With: health care blue book

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