New MC Procedure Price Lookup Tool

Yagents

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Have fun..... This should keep LD bizy bizy.

Procedure Price Lookup


Medicare beneficiaries can use the Procedure Price Lookup tool to look up the national average that Medicare pays hospitals or ambulatory surgical centers for certain surgeries. The website also can reveal the national average co-payment that a beneficiary with no Medicare supplemental insurance would pay the provider.

The new tool, which the CMS was required to create under the 21st Century Cures Act, will help Medicare patients consider procedure costs at different types of providers, Verma said.

A Medicare beneficiary who needs knee surgery can use the website to find out-of-pocket cost estimates for a local hospital's outpatient department and an independent surgery center.

The CMS is pushing hospitals to be more transparent about patient charges, not just for surgeries. The agency has updated its previous price transparency guideline, drawn from the Affordable Care Act, and will require hospitals to publish a list of standard charges in an online, machine-readable format starting Jan. 1. They must update that charge information, drawn from their retail chargemaster list, at least annually.

Medicare price tool compares surgery costs
 
This will be helpful. I think the key to fixing healthcare will be transparency in costs. So the consumer can shop for medical services in a similar manner to shopping for other goods and services in our society.
 
Drug pricing is very transparent, yet few people bother to check pricing.

What the consumer CAN do and WILL do are dissimilar.

Yeah that's true. I guess that's why a few people still get ripped off on auto repairs, or home repairs, etc... because they dont shop around and get quotes from multiple sources.
 
I have op on ignore so I just happened to notice this thread while on the "outside".

I would just observe that if "something" has to be presented to the agent community by an agent sniping at me in order to get other agents attention for it, it is probably not a very useful "something".
 
And not everyone has access to the internet, or if they do, they don't know how to use it.

This is how agents are able to write $300/mo Medigap plans when the same plan is available from other carriers for half that price.

Life insurance is the same way.

You live in the sticks and some guy knocks on your door.

"I am in the neighborhood and Alex wanted me to stop by and offer you a free calendar, some note pads and pens. He knows you watch Jeopardy all the time and wants to thank you for making his show number 1. He also asked me to help you find a Medicare plan since you are turning 65 . . ."

Happens way too often.
 
And not everyone has access to the internet, or if they do, they don't know how to use it.

This is how agents are able to write $300/mo Medigap plans when the same plan is available from other carriers for half that price.

Life insurance is the same way.

You live in the sticks and some guy knocks on your door.

"I am in the neighborhood and Alex wanted me to stop by and offer you a free calendar, some note pads and pens. He knows you watch Jeopardy all the time and wants to thank you for making his show number 1. He also asked me to help you find a Medicare plan since you are turning 65 . . ."

Happens way too often.
This made me laugh..."Alex wanted to come see you personally, but he just has so many people to see, so I am here in his place!! He asked me to do this because I too am a loyal fan, and if you do business with us, he may ask you to help me help others as well!!"
 
Had a referral from a client look me up on Medicare.com for some reason. Not sure why she didn't ask my client for my number...

She called Medicare.com for some reason and asked for me. Rep who answered said "he isn't at his desk right now, but I can help you get started." She wrote the person a plan, thankfully a Plan F.

Referral eventually got my contact info and told me what happened. I wrote her a Plan G and saved her even more money...

Hey lady at Medicare.com call center; thanks for starting the relationship with a lie. People appreciate that stuff.
 
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