Earlier this week, I brought up an example of the web reflecting rather than driving popular culture, in this case, websites that create artificial exclusivity to mirror scarcity offline. Well here's a counter-example: cross-shopping behavior.
The web has drastically reduced the effort required to cross-shop, particular by price. And comparison-shopping engines like Froogle and Shopping.com have the task even easier.
Now Vimo.com is looking to bring private and public data to help you cross-shop for...health care services. The site lets you compare health plans, doctors, or even individual treatments side-by-side.
It's a classic problem for the Internet to solve - a huge lack of pricing transparency, uneven distribution of information, and a vexing intermediary (your health insurer) that may or may not always act in your best interests.
My Medical Control, another web-based company, tackles the post-service end of the business- they will take your medical bill and bargain it down for you, the same service a claims adjuster would do for a major insurer- less a 35% commission on any savings. (According to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, health care spending is set to double in the next decade, to more than $4 trillion a year, a fifth of the gross domestic product).
Of course, there are limits to cross-shopping for healthcare by price - your out-of-pocket costs will vary, quality of care is an intangible benefit, and your specific treatment will likely differ from your neighbor's. Still, it's fascinating to see the Internet-led "informed consumer" model seeping into the byzantine health care system. Read more in the New York Times.
Misha Cornes
in
consumer trends
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