Prices for common medical tests vary widely in Houston
Published: 2010-01-19 16:47:17By: L.M. SIXEL | Houston Chronicle | January 18, 2010
Most of us already know to ask for generic medicines rather than brand-name drugs. But how can you find the cheapest MRI or CT scan?
The cost of common medical procedures can vary by thousands of dollars in Houston. Patients — and the companies that subsidize their health insurance plans — can save thousands of dollars if they know which in-network hospitals, outpatient clients or lab offer the lowest prices.
But patients don't typically have access to that pricing information in advance, or even know that prices vary. Insurance contracts are confidential, and individual bills are determined by billing codes few patients understand.
Consumers can compare prices when they're shopping for a car or buying groceries, but they don't have that transparency when buying health care services, said Christopher Fisher, chief innovation officer of BenefitSpecialists, which designs benefit programs for Houston-area employers.
“If a gallon of milk is $3 in one store and $15 in another store 10 miles away, you'd think that's crazy,” Fisher said. “But that's what is going on in our health care system.”
Fisher pointed to data calculated by Compass Professional Health Services in Dallas that shows the cost for the same CT brain scan ranges from $128 to $869 among four health care providers in Houston. The company uses actual claims data from its members to build its database.
Pricing information available from insurance companies varies. UnitedHealthcare, for example gives consumers a broad, general range on what they can expect to pay for tests and to treat specific diseases.
The cost to treat breast cancer, for example, ranges from $14,411 to $19,580 for several doctors whose offices are within a 10-mile radius of Meyerland in southwest Houston, according to UnitedHealthcare's Web site. An MRI of the shoulder or arm ranges in price from $611 to $890. For specific prices, patients should ask their doctors, said UnitedHealthcare spokeswoman Kim Whitaker in Plano.
Aetna, by contrast,
provides members with actual contracted rates for about 35
non-emergency procedures, including CT scans, MRIs, biopsies and
colonoscopies.