Website for Medical comparison shopping

I've been listening the the NPR podcast "Planet Money," which I highly recommend. In the episode I just listened to, "Shopping for an MRI," Planet Money explained that ordinarily, most merchants compete on price: Store A will sell a can of Spaghetti-Os at a price pretty close to the price that Store B sells it. The one market where this doesn't work is health care costs. It is extremely difficult to find out what a facility will charge for a medical procedure, and since insurers generally provide a buffer, people are insulated from price information. As a result, hospitals and clinics can charge prices that are wildly different for the same procedure: an MRI might differ in cost by as much as $500 at two different locations less than a mile apart.

But they mentioned a really cool website that helps you uncover these price differentials. If you are facing an expensive medical procedure, go to www.newchoicehealth.com, plug in your location and the name of the procedure (gall bladder removal, say, or cataract surgery) and it will give you a handy cost comparison chart. In my city of Minneapolis, the cost of cataract surgery ranges from $3100 to $1150, and the website will give you the list of facilities, with their breakdowns on price.

Bookmark this site and use it!

Umm . .. .

A wisp of an idea is niggling at me. I'm wondering about . . . becoming an oblate. Apparently, Protestants can do so.

Any others out there?

First step, I guess: read the Rule of St. Benedict.

A new card

The Call - Council Suit I am the One who summons you, often in the still hours when you least expect it. I may be loud and imperative, or so quiet that you will be tempted to ignore me, as badly timed or inconvenient. Do not do so, upon peril of your soul. The Call must be heeded, for it is the infusion of the Divine into the everyday world.

( What I did today to make the world a better place )