by Sarah
Gantz, Updated: January 10, 2019
Michelle
Smith knew the breast MRI her doctor ordered wouldn’t be covered in full by her insurance, so she
turned to an online tool that her insurance company developed to help patients
estimate prices.
UnitedHealthcare’s
price estimator told the 51-year-old Delaware County resident that the cost for
the procedure in her area ranged from $783 to $1,375.
So
Smith was shocked when her share of the bill — from a facility that the tool
suggested — came to $3,237.
“What
good is a cost calculator if it’s not accurate? I’d be better off with no
information than false information,” she said.
Health-care
costs are difficult to pin down because prices vary widely and are part of confidential
agreements between insurers and providers. But in response to growing demand
from patients spending more out of pocket than ever before, insurers
and even health systems are investing in price estimator tools that claim to
offer at least a ballpark price. Still, the tools have been slow to catch on,
in part because they’re clunky and, as Smith learned the hard way, not always
useful.
“It
doesn’t seem like too much to ask, ‘How much is this going to cost? What’s a
provider that’s in-network?’ Those are reasonable questions and insurers need
to improve their ability to answer those questions. They’re working on it, but
they’re not there yet,” said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy adviser at
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Each
insurance company negotiates its own set of rates with every provider in the network. The
size of your health plan’s deductible (the amount you pay out of pocket before
the plan pays) and how the plan splits cost between itself and its members
after the deductible is met will also affect how much you owe.
These
complicated plan designs, with their many ways members may be footing part of
the bill, have made it even more difficult to pinpoint costs in advance,
Hempstead said.
“There’s more opportunity for different types
of bad surprises for consumers,” she said.
Smith,
who has a family history of breast cancer, had a breast MRI last year at Main Line Health Imaging’s Bryn
Mawr Hospital location, across the street from the hospital’s main building.
The
scan cost Smith $1,500 last year, so UnitedHealthcare’s estimate of $783 to
$1,300 seemed about right, she said.
Smith
called the scheduling phone number listed for Main Line Health Imaging’s six
locations and made an appointment at another facility near her Springfield
home, this one at Riddle Hospital.
Little
did Smith know that the imaging center at Riddle would cost her twice as much
because the center is based within the hospital, as opposed to a separate
building across the street.
Services
provided in a hospital are often more expensive because the price includes fees
for the administrative and operating costs associated with running a hospital,
Megan Call, a spokesperson for Main Line, said in a statement.
When
asked how a patient could have known which of the six imaging centers are
billed at a hospital rate, Call said patients should call Main Line’s price
estimation team for help.
“We
do acknowledge that billing and insurance reimbursement issues can be difficult
to navigate. As such, we are committed to price transparency and giving our
patients the tools they need to make informed decision about their care,” she
said in a statement.
Main
Line billed UnitedHealthcare $7,692 for the scan and the insurer negotiated a
rate of $3,463. Because Smith hadn’t met her deductible yet, UnitedHealthcare
passed on almost all of the bill — $3,237.
After
a call from an Inquirer reporter, Main Line reduced Smith’s share of the bill
to $1,500.
Smith
said she is pleased that the bill was reduced, but is concerned about getting
caught in the same situation next year. (Her scan results were fine, but
because of her family history, she will likely need a breast MRI annually.)
“I
do not have a problem paying the bill. It’s not a financial thing for me. It’s
a principle thing. I feel like I am an informed person and can’t accurately use
the cost estimator — there must be plenty of people who can’t,” Smith said.
Smith
said she believed that she’d taken every possible step to avoid a big bill and
that the estimate UnitedHealthcare provided was misleading.
In
a statement, UnitedHealthcare defended its cost tools.
“Our
online and mobile quality and cost transparency resources provide estimates,
which are based on actual contracted rates with health-care providers and
facilities, as well as the member’s health benefits plan, offering people
actionable information,” Maria Gordon Shydlo, a spokesperson for
UnitedHealthcare, said in a statement.
It’s
important to have the correct information about the exact procedure and where
it will be performed, she said.
Shydlo
also recommended that members ask their doctor how much the service will cost
or call other providers in the area to compare prices.
That
may not be helpful advice. Doctors typically have no idea how much their services cost because the prices
depend on the insurer’s contracted rates. Other providers, such as an
independent imaging center, may be able to tell you cash prices, but the rates they negotiate with insurers are
proprietary.
But
increasingly, health systems are tuning in to patients’ desire for information
about cost.
As
of Jan. 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires hospitals to
list the “chargemaster” price for every service, procedure and
medication they have. But few people pay chargemaster prices, which are the
starting point for rate negotiations with insurers. Plus, the prices are
displayed in hard-to-interpret spreadsheets on hospital websites.
One
of the loudest criticisms of price tools is that patients don’t use them,
because they’re difficult to navigate, provide inaccurate information, or don’t
result in significant enough savings.
“When
they are [used] they’re not leading patients to spend lower amounts of money.
That was really the goal of the price transparency tools,” said Anna Sinaiko,
an assistant professor of health economics and policy at the Harvard School of
Public Health.
Arming
patients with more information about how costs vary depending on where they go
can be a way for insurers to save money, too, if their price tools direct
members to lower-cost providers.
“The
idea of providing price information to patients in advance is generally thought
to be moving the health-care system in the right direction,” Sinaiko said. “The
more we demand this information from our insurers, the more pressure we put on
them, that’s one way to get closer to that end.”
Posted: January
10, 2019 - 6:00 AM
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