How price shopping for health care can save you money (and how to do it)

Early final 12 months, Chris Privett scheduled an MRI of his aching left shoulder, absolutely ready to obtain a hefty out-of-pocket invoice, as he hadn’t met his annual medical insurance deductible but. The day after he marked that MRI on his calendar, he obtained a name from his well being insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Defend of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC), telling him he’d pay rather a lot much less—$340 much less, to be actual—if he received precisely the identical process at one other clinic.  He instantly referred to as to change his appointment to the extra inexpensive clinic, which was positioned solely a block from the place his MRI was first scheduled.

Chris’s story goes to point out two issues: Well being care prices can range broadly amongst clinics, and it pays to cost store.

Everyone knows that well being care is simply too costly. However most individuals don’t know they’ll store for medical care the identical manner they could store for a airplane ticket or a brand new automobile.

Extra North Carolinians desire Blue Cross NC over another well being insurer.¹ Because the state’s most well-liked well being insurer, now we have a duty to assist our members discover inexpensive, high-quality care once they want it.

As we begin 2022, listed here are 3 ways to save lots of on well being care prices this 12 months.

Use our value transparency software.

It’s onerous to consider, however the price of many frequent procedures can range by hundreds – in some circumstances tens of hundreds – of {dollars} throughout the similar metropolis. Or, as Chris discovered, on the identical avenue. When sufferers don’t have easy accessibility to this info, they’re stored in the dead of night about simply how a lot care prices – and the way a lot they’ll should pay out-of-pocket – till the ultimate invoice arrives.

Blue Cross NC believes in value transparency. In 2012, we launched a groundbreaking value comparability software that permits members to match the price and high quality of frequent procedures earlier than they make vital care choices.

In 2015, we went a step additional and made the software accessible to all North Carolinians. Everybody, whether or not they’re a Blue Cross NC member or not, can shortly seek for frequent procedures like MRIs, knee replacements or mammograms and see how the price varies between close by suppliers.

For instance, a seek for bariatric surgical procedure reveals the price, earlier than insurance coverage, at $37,000 at one clinic, however $27,000 9 miles down the street. That’s no small distinction, particularly when you have an out-of-pocket deductible to fulfill.

Make the most of SmartShopper^®

In 2018, we rolled out a brand new program referred to as SmartShopper, a cost-savings program that pays members to buy sure medical procedures. Eligible members can value store greater than 100 frequent procedures like colonoscopies and CT scans – two examples of procedures which have all kinds of worth tags – and receives a commission money for visiting SmartShopper eligible suppliers.

One Blue Cross NC member, Martha Songayllo-Diamond, received paid $1,000 for 2 colonoscopies utilizing SmartShopper. And, since Blue Cross NC lined the total value of each procedures, she made cash somewhat than spending cash.

Log in to Blue Connect with see in case you’re eligible for this system, and watch the video beneath to study extra about it.