Consumers, employers, and just about everyone else interested in health care prices will soon get an unprecedented look at what insurers pay for care, perhaps helping answer a question that has long dogged those who buy insurance: Are we getting the best deal we can?<\/p>\n

As of July 1<\/a>, health insurers and self-insured employers must post on websites just about every price they\u2019ve negotiated with providers for health care services, item by item. About the only thing excluded are the prices paid for prescription drugs, except those administered in hospitals or doctors\u2019 offices.<\/p>\n

The federally required data release could affect future prices or even how employers contract for health care. Many will see for the first time how well their insurers are doing compared with others.<\/p>\n

The new rules are far broader than those that went into effect last year requiring hospitals to post their negotiated rates for the public to see. Now insurers must post the amounts paid for \u201cevery physician in network, every hospital, every surgery center, every nursing facility,\u201d said Jeffrey Leibach<\/a>, a partner at the consulting firm Guidehouse.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you start doing the math, you\u2019re talking trillions of records,\u201d he said. The fines the federal government could impose for noncompliance are also heftier than the penalties that hospitals face.<\/p>\n

Federal officials learned from the hospital experience<\/a> and gave insurers more direction on what was expected, said Leibach. Insurers or self-insured employers could be fined as much as $100 a day for each violation, for each affected enrollee if they fail to provide the data.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet your calculator out: All of a sudden you are in the millions pretty fast,\u201d Leibach said.<\/p>\n

Determined consumers, especially those with high-deductible health plans, may try to dig in right away and use the data to try comparing what they will have to pay at different hospitals, clinics, or doctor offices for specific services.<\/p>\n

But each database\u2019s enormous size may mean that most people \u201cwill find it very hard to use the data in a nuanced way,\u201d said Katherine Baicker<\/a>, dean of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.<\/p>\n

At least at first.<\/p>\n

Entrepreneurs are expected to quickly translate the information into more user-friendly formats so it can be incorporated into new or existing services that estimate costs for patients. And starting Jan. 1, the rules require insurers to provide online tools that will help people get upfront cost estimates for about 500 so-called \u201cshoppable\u201d services, meaning medical care they can schedule ahead of time.<\/p>\n

Once those things happen, \u201cyou\u2019ll at least have the options in front of you,\u201d said Chris Severn, CEO of Turquoise Health<\/a>, an online company that has posted price information made available under the rules for hospitals, although many hospitals have yet to comply.<\/p>\n

With the addition of the insurers\u2019 data, sites like his will be able to drill down further into cost variation from one place to another or among insurers.<\/p>\n