CashMedicalCare.com is a simple idea at the absolute perfect time.  Deductibles and co-pays are rising and consumers are being expected to make informed decisions with their healthcare dollars without all the pricing information.

From HFMA, the health care industries web site:

“People everywhere want to be smart healthcare consumers, but information about healthcare prices is not easily accessible,” said Joseph J. Fifer, president and CEO of HFMA. “For too long, it has been unclear how consumers should go about getting price information—who to ask, what to ask for, or what the information even means when they do receive it. This approach is a game changer.”

With a myriad of codes, procedures and different types of testing facilities and options.

Among the principles the task force agreed on was that insurers should provide price data to their enrollees, while providers have the responsibility to inform their uninsured and self-pay patients about prices. The task force called on health plans and providers to make price information available in easy-to-understand formats so that consumers can make the most of the information at their disposal.

The Affordable Care Act is changing everything.

Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, agreed that the push for price transparency is increasingly important as coverage expands under the Affordable Care Act and more people have to grapple with healthcare costs.

“This report hit us over the head that we have transitioned from the issue of access to the issue of affordability,” Ignani said.

Mark Rukovina, principal at Community Health Advisors, cited the estimated $329 billion of out-of-pocket costs of health care—beyond premiums—in 2013 for patients to highlight the growing need for patients to understand their financial obligations and which treatments they can afford.

“Consumers are critically concerned about prices and want to know in advance what the price will be,” Rukovina said.