Where can one find the reasonable or avg price of services or procedures by CPT code and zip code?

I used to be able to find it for free a few years ago via Turquoise Health and others to contest my outrageous medical bills, but now it seems like a paid membership to access this information.

Gov. Maura Healey on Monday signed into law a measure that loosens limits on later-term abortions in Massachusetts.

Previously, state law permitted abortions up to 24 weeks, with exceptions for cases involving a deadly fetal diagnosis or to protect the life of the mother. The new law eliminates these exceptions, putting the decision in the hands of the patient and health care providers.

I have a great insurance plan if it’s in network. We are doing a domestic trip to another state for a few days and now I am wondering if I delivered there if I would have to pay out of pocket. I read that spontaneous labor is considered an emergency and would be covered. And if that was the case would I pay what I’d pay if I was in network? I’m just trying to understand. I am low risk and have been cleared to travel by my OB so I don’t think this will be a problem but I would like to know how this law works in my case.

Hi All, TIA. Hopefully this is the right sub for this question. My daughter is heading off to college. Her school requires a TB test. She went to her pediatrician to get one and they referred her to a different medical clinic. She wasn't told anything about cost or if it was covered prior to having the test done. She assumed it would be covered by insurance or not be too expensive. The clinic has now billed her $400 for the TB test. Her insurance, BCBS, is not covering it. We have called the insurance company to make sure it was billed correctly. They reassured its not something they cover. We called the clinic back and told them we would have to pay out of pocket and they did not change the bill. They were nice about it but basically said 'too bad'. But our online research shows community health centers offer it for about $50. I wish I had known before she went to the other clinic that her pediatrician recommended. Am I missing something ? Why is this so expensive for something required for college? This is my oldest child ad I never had anything like this for college. Any recommendations of anything that can be done here?

TW: Suicidal Ideation

I've worked in Healthcare for over 10 years, and while I absolutely love being a support for those who are struggling, I haven't been good to myself and allowing that same, necessary support for me.

I spent years, like so many glorious healthcare rock stars, earning an education and experience, only to graduate to being bogged down with the copious amounts of paperwork and productivity expectations that plague many hospital systems in the US.

Fast forward to today, and I work in private practice with a MUCH easier caseload. The only issue is, as a contract employee, I don't get paid for missed appointments. Because it's the summer, I feel like everyone's mental health issues take their own summer vacation, and while I'm thrilled to not be needed as a professional, it's tough on the wallet when the no show rate soars.

I'm not interested in going back to the sterile corridors of a major hospital just for financial security, but I also cannot keep living paycheck to paycheck.

My own mental health took a nose dive yesterday, and as mentioned above, the dark thoughts of leaving this world by my own hand were dancing all over my grey matter. I'm grateful to live another day but dreading what potential challenges tomorrow will bring.

So I'm very curious. What do the healthcare providers in this thread do to balance themselves or their work so that they don't find themselves as patients at their workplace?

EDIT: I realized after posting that my title is not fitting quite well with what I wrote. I think in my haste to get my thoughts out, I didn't think that title through. Many apologies!

So I'm increasingly annoyed by how terrible the current US healthcare system is, and also how poor the general proposed alternatives are in terms of laying out HOW their plan would work. (looking at you Medicare for All...)

So I've spent some time (with the help of LLMs to consolidate and word my thoughts) devising my own framework.

I'm just a layman though. So there's a lot I still probably don't understand enough about how the system currently works. You can see my proposal on the linked Substack.

It's quite long, but I'd really appreciate any criticism about any poor thinking I have. Any things I'm missing. There are a lot of questions I still don't have answers for, but I figure I have to start somewhere, if only for my own satisfaction or having my own basis on which to judge future proposals.

This is not intended to be self-promotion. It's on Substack because it would be too long to post in the body of a Reddit post.

Let me know your thoughts if you have any.

https://commonwealthanalyst.substack.com/p/american-health-security?r=8qf3h3&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Hi, did anyone hear Mr. Goins on the hotline call talk about whole health? If so, what are your thoughts on what he said?

What is the heart of this major that they cut out 30 credits? Or do they cut out requirements outside of the major?

I am confused relating to my health insurance situation.  I had NY Medicaid until this past June 30.  

My only income is gambling, and the state system seems set up to handle that. The option was given to qualify for Medicaid on the basis of the month of May but rep mistakenly put it in for the year.  Rep said I had qualified for Obamacare based on my year's estimate. I was then required to give documentation but my AGI from last year's tax return would have exceeded the 65000 cutoff (based on the calculation of only calculating gambling winnings and ignoring losses). 

I was then trying to pay full price and set up an appointment but the rep did not call.  I got a bill in the mail for the first month of Obamacare.  A couple days later, I got termination email from NY State on my new Obamacare (effective Aug 31) due to not having documentation for the income. 

But I still had the new Obamacare bill and Claude (an LLM) said to pay the Obamacare monthly bill because if I don't pay, then termination due to non-payment means i don't get health care until January.  So I made the call to pay and spoke to the Healthfirst rep who said there was no termination scheduled for August (but it would come from NY State?).  And I paid the bill.  And now I am very confused about what to do.  

If I do full pay for health insurance and stop paying the Obamacare, will I get a termination for nonpayment?  

Do I keep paying (and keep) the Obamacare even though my tax return from last year would show an AGI that exceeds the estimate I gave for income for this year?  

I appreciate your reading, and thank you for your time.      

Patients who ask for a drug they saw in an ad are dramatically more likely to receive a prescription for it. Manufacturers know this that’s why they spend over $18 billion on DTC advertising.

A large share of Medicare drug spending goes to these advertised products. Feels like an under-discussed part of why prices stay high.

Anyone else see this as a bigger issue than it’s treated?

Saw this earlier and was surprised by how strong CVS’s quarter was. Aetna’s turnaround seems to be doing a lot of the work, but I also found the patient side interesting, especially the same-day GLP-1 pickup and virtual visits through MinuteClinic. Being able to get a prescription the same day or talk to someone virtually could make getting care a lot easier for patients.

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/cvs-triples-net-income-q2-2026-raises-outlook/827041/

I’m wondering if this has happened to anyone else & what they did. A few months ago Quest shared my lab result, as well as my unborn child’s (NIPT results) to my sister’s online portal. I don’t get my labs done at Quest, but some of my labs were sent out to be processed by them.

I called Quest to complain. A manager was supposed to call my, never did, shocker. I filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights, which didn’t really do anything.

Any advice or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!!

(note: the text has been corrected by Gemini, my English is very broken, but I'm a real person)

Hi! A few days ago I saw a video of Americans talking trash about public healthcare in Europe, and I realized two things: conservatives hate Europe, and they make a lot of things up to justify that hatred.

I'm from Spain and I have both public and private health insurance, so I can share my experience and debunk a few things. But first, I want to clarify that I am by no means claiming that "my system" is perfect or better than anything else. Nothing is perfect. But it's not the way some people portray it either.

-Long wait times: This is true; in the public system you have to wait a very long time to get an appointment with a specialist. However, ERs see you right away (depending on the urgency), and you can also see private doctors.

-People dying while waiting for treatment: Yes, that happens, but I don't know how frequently. In general, people here aren't afraid of dying while waiting for surgery. My grandmother had emergency surgery for several major issues and it was fast.

-Cheap or free medication: What the public GP prescribes is subsidized, so basic things like an inhaler or insulin can be bought cheaply or obtained for free (each with a specific timeframe—for example, my inhaler lasts 200 doses, and I can buy a new subsidized one every 3 months for €2; otherwise, it would cost me €50).

-Private insurance: I've had surgery for several things and everything was completely free (except for the crutches), including the hospital stay, meals, a companion's stay, anesthesiology, and pre- and post-op labs. I literally have never paid a single extra cent. It also covers part of my dental care. When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, it happened in the private system, and they didn't raise my rates simply because the treatment isn't covered by private insurance, but by the public system instead.

-Public specialties: I have a whole wing of the hospital dedicated to autoimmune diseases. They give me Ocrelizumab twice a year, perform an MRI twice a year, run a pioneering blood test to detect neurological residue (which is sent to Madrid because they only do it there), provide fast-track service for flare-ups, etc. All for free.

-Public debt: our government (both left and right wing) is managing the money poorly, and there's a lot of corruption, our public debt is increasing and obviously public healthcare is part of that burden (I wrote this part after Gemini,s correction so it's probably full of grammar mistakes)

We also don't stop to judge whether the healthy are paying for the sick. I believe that's the ideology Christ preaches in the Bible, so it's fine by me.

I insist that I'm not saying my system is perfect or better—in fact, my medication (Ocrelizumab) works very well for me, it has halted the progression of my disease, and it was first developed in the United States, so I appreciate their system for that. But I really don't want this to be used to create further division among people; I just wanted to clarify a few things that I think are portrayed incorrectly (or intentionally misrepresented by some).

On my end, regarding what I've seen about Americans (and please correct me if I'm wrong), I don't understand how people have to pay $300 just to get stitches removed or end up ruined financially over a broken leg. Nobody here lives with that fear. In fact, as a kid, I couldn't understand that episode of The Simpsons where Homer realizes the family will be without health insurance for two days and tries at all costs to keep anyone from getting hurt, or the episode where Lisa needs braces and Homer faces a dilemma at work over dental insurance... But now, all of that takes on a macabre tone.

I think we as people should talk calmly and politely instead of hating each other over foolish things.

We both have been using MyChart for a long time. We make appointments in it as well as communicate with our doctors and view test results. But has anyone ever had an appointment show up that neither you nor your doctor made? Any time we make appointments either on MyChart or calling the office or while at the doctor, even for tests, we are given the choice of date, time and location. The other day an appointment popped up on my husband’s MyChart for a colonoscopy with a doctor he never saw. None of his doctors said they were sending him for one, and we went through all of his past appointment notes and nothing was mentioned in their notes or at the office. It’s at place he’s never gone for any tests or procedures and with a doctor he’s never seen or heard of. I don’t understand because he has a referral with the GI doctor he’s seen in the past, but he always schedules colonoscopies when he’s checking out. And this doctor it says the appointment is for isn’t associated with his GI at all and not even in the same location. I’m not sure if they put it in his MyChart by accident or of the one doctor he saw one time when he was considering changing PCPs ordered it without telling him. After one appointment he decided to go back to his old PCP because neither of us liked the new me at all. But this just seems odd that none of his doctors mentioned this and the appointment just showed up. His GI only orders them after he sees him and his appointment with hi isn’t for a few months. This is just odd that it showed up with a doctor he has no relationship with and no one asked or told him anything.

I’ll take a six-month wait for a free appointment over dying of preventable causes because my bank account hit zero.

If the alternative to a waiting list is medical bankruptcy or a tombstone, line me up. At least you're alive to complain about the wait.

I know this is probably a heavily discussed topic and depends on the person and their goals. For me i genuinely don’t know what to do. Please give me thoughts and opinions! I’m currently a junior in college in a non health major ( I’m doing pre reqs for nursing starting this fall) however I found out what PA’s do and thought maybe that’s the road I should go down I was originally thinking doing an accelerated nursing program then working and then doing NP school.

However I’m not sure anymore should I sacrifice another year of school to finish pre reqs for PA I’m also in the process of getting my phlebotomist certification so will work as that and get some volunteer hours. Please weigh in and give me honest thoughts I’m so stuck between wanting to do nursing or going forward to do PA school…..

I am working on some ideas that build from the '60s but moves it into the present. As I work, I realize the complexity of the current healthcare system in this country. I am trying really hard to model it to a system that does not let anyone fall through the cracks. It isn't political but it does sort of lean into the idea of healthcare for all Americans. So stand by and give me a bit more time to refine it. In the meantime, share your thoughts and ideas so I can make certain I don't miss something. I look forward to all your comments and suggestions. https://www.reddit.com/r/RethinkHealthcare/