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SYRACUSE, New York – A new national Web site will give patients information about out-of-network health care costs, enabling them to compare prices before choosing doctors, Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney general, announced Tuesday.
FAIR Health Inc., a new not-for-profit company, and a research network headquartered at Syracuse University will develop the Web site and maintain a database to help determine reimbursements. Cuomo said the effort will bring “much-needed transparency, accountability and fairness to a broken consumer reimbursement system.”
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The Associated Press reported that health insurers are paying nearly $100 million toward the initiative.
In January, UnitedHealth Group Inc. agreed to shut down a database developed by its subsidiary, Ingenix, after an investigation “revealed that the database intentionally skewed ‘usual and customary’ rates downward through faulty data collection, poor pooling procedures and the lack of audits,” according to a statement from Cuomo’s office. In other words, the statement explained, “consumers were forced to pay more than they should have.”
UnitedHealth also vowed to contribute $50 million toward the new database. Following that agreement, a dozen insurers promised to end their relationships with Ingenix and contribute to the database.
Both the database and consumer Web site are expected to be up and running within a year.
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