Massachusetts is testing dozens of ways to wrangle control of health care spending. Turning patients into consumers is one approach that is popular among economists. But patients can’t “shop” for care if they don’t know how much anything costs. So as of October 1, 2013, insurers have to provide patients with a price, in advance, for any test, treatment or procedure the patient needs. I tested the systems created by the state’s top three insurers and found that getting a price from just one provider (never mind comparison shopping) was ridiculously complicated.
