NH Insurance Department Reboots Website

The New Hampshire Insurance Department made major consumer-oriented updates to its health transparency website, NHHealthCost.org. 

NH HealthCost, which was created by the Insurance Department in 2007, uses actual paid claims data, collected from the state’s health insurers, to show prices for health care procedures at facilities across the state. The website lets people to see the total costs of procedures, including physician fees, lab fees, and facility fees, based on their insurance type, deductible, and coinsurance (or the amount due if they were uninsured).

The site’s goal is to give people knowledge about the real cost of their care so they can make informed choices about how and where to spend their health care dollars.   

“These updates to our renowned HealthCost website give New Hampshire residents even greater transparency on health care costs in the state,” says Roger Sevigny, commissioner of NH Insurance. “People in the Granite State do their research before any important purchase, such as buying a car. They ought to have that same right when it comes to their health care expenses. Through our redesigned NH HealthCost website, people can now find the best prices statewide on 67 medical procedures and 16 dental procedures, as well as information on 65 prescription medications.” 

Updates to the NH HealthCost website include:

Procedures: 

• 31 new medical procedures listed
• 16 dental cost estimates 
• Pharmacy retail charges for 35 brand name drugs and 30 generic drugs.
• Searchable lab tests as well as an averages report
• Physical therapy
• Behavioral health
• Chiropractic care
• Sleep studies

Quality of Care: This new section offers a way to see nationally available quality data on local health care facilities, such as infection rates, patient experience, and readmissions. The goal is to level out price disparities between providers and to increase the quality of care that patients can expect to receive.

A Guide to Health Insurance: The guide features frequently asked questions about getting health insurance, navigating the insurance system, and how to manage costs. Users can submit their own questions and give feedback on the information presented.

In 2015, NH was the only state in the country to earn an A in a national report card on access to health care prices, issued by two nonprofit organizations that focus on health care reform. The report card cited NH HealthCost.org as “a prime example of a price transparency website built with consumers in mind."