Nation & World

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 Web site being created for health cost info The site will offer impartial information on insurance out-of-network charges and reimbursement, a New York official says. Associated Press SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Consumers across the country will be able to find information about out-of-network health care costs on a new Web site, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. The information will be collected by a new nonprofit company, FAIR Health, in partnership with a research consortium based at Syracuse University, Cuomo said. Officials hoped to have the database and Web site operating within a year, he said. The new database “will bring much-needed transparency, accountability and fairness to a broken consumer reimbursement system” and could benefit more than 100 million Americans nationwide, Cuomo said. “Before you leave your house you will be able to look up the exact procedure you’re going to have and you will know what the cost is, so when you get to the doctor’s office, there will be no surprises for you or the doctor,” Cuomo said. The Web site also will give consumers information on how much they are likely to be reimbursed by their insurance company for using doctors outside of their network, based on the costs of health care services in their area. Health insurers are putting up nearly $100 million to develop the database, one product of a January settlement reached by Cuomo with UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation’s second-largest health insurer, the attorney general said. Cuomo secured agreements with more than a dozen of the largest health insurers to end their use of a database developed by UnitedHealth subsidiary Ingenix Inc. They used the information to set their out-of-network payments to physicians, hospitals and other health providers. Insurers often promise to cover as much as 80 percent of those rates for claims from providers outside their network. However, Cuomo’s investigation found that Ingenix had a vested interest in helping set rates low, thus allowing companies to underpay patients for out-of-network services by as much as 28 percent. The new database, to be operated independently by FAIR Health, will remove the conflict of interest and determine fair out-of-network reimbursement rates for consumers throughout the United States, Cuomo said. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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