Posted on April 28, 2008 | Category: Healthcare Policy
By Jan Greene
So I’m all excited about providing the blogosphere with a new place to talk about how the health system is affecting consumers. But it’s hard to talk about without getting into how our painfully flawed system should be designed.
I’m a journalist, not an advocate, so it’s not my business to promote a particular point of view. Commenters to this site, however, are not so bound, and I hope will eventually use this as one of many places to debate these issues. Some of the others are listed to the right under health policy.
But my main goal for this site is to provide practical help for healthcare consumers. I’ll be slowly adding to the links under Services for Consumers as I come across good resources out there. The first one I added is called Out of Pocket, and it collects information about how much healthcare services cost. While this may not seem like a big deal, it really is. The actual price tags of items such as MRIs and hospital visits are hidden from public view. Even if you have insurance, you may well run into a situation where you need to know how much something costs up front, particularly if you’re paying for it yourself. This is a step toward a more transparent system.
So while we’re all looking for practical ways to deal with a changing healthcare world, those of you who are so inclined will be working to improve it. Good luck!
» Filed Under Healthcare Policy