Use Case

I downloaded your dumb app, now how am I going to use it?

Anthem Insurance Price Transparency

For the most part, prices are negotiated between an insurance company and a hospital system in the United States. Almost everyone hates that this is the way we do things—namely, patients and physicians—but sadly this is how it is.

What this means is that often a “brand name” hospital is able to charge a higher price for a service than a community hospital. So even if the care you receive for your hysteroscopy is the same at the Lahey Clinic* versus Massachusetts General Hospital, you’re likely going to be paying slightly more at MGH. One could make a Subaru versus Tesla analogy here, but it wouldn’t really be fair because of standards of care making things relatively equal between hospitals. Chalk it up partially to aggressive marketing and paying U.S. News and World Report for high rankings.

Maybe the brand really appeals to you though, and you want to be able to compare the prices between all the hospitals in your area to see the differential. MediFare makes it possible for you to do that and also look at the specific price for your insurance plan. You can even save the data across multiple searches if you make an account!

*I’m not sure Lahey truly qualifies as a community hospital but you get the idea.