Crowdsourcing platform informs patients of lowest and highest healthcare prices in the local area

Clear Health Costs lets users know what others are paying for medical treatment across in New York so they don't pay over the odds.

The costs of healthcare in the US can hit families hard when an injury or illness occurs. Hoping to leave patients with more in their pockets, Clear Health Costs lets users know what others are paying for treatment elsewhere in New York so they don’t pay over the odds. The site encourages its users to share what they paid for a medical treatment, along with the details of the practice where they received the care. Visitors are shown both the lowest and highest prices for each particular treatment, along with the names of the corresponding providers so that patients know the cheapest places to go, as well as the discrepancy existing between health centers. Clicking on a treatment gives all of the figures that have been entered for that service, which can be sorted from lowest to highest price and location. Also available on the site are reports about the healthcare marketplace and advice for patients purchasing medical treatments. We recently covered the Watsi crowdfunding platform to help those in developing countries cover the costs of their healthcare, and our latest spotting could now help western citizens avoid unnecessary overspending on medical bills. Are there any other industries that could benefit from a price comparison site using this model? Spotted by: Murtaza Patel