Recent reports suggest that the number of Americans foregoing medical care because of costs is on the decline due to the Affordable Care Act. Consumers, however, are paying increasing amounts out of their own pockets because of rising prices and enrollment in health plans with higher deductibles. Price transparency – providing consumers with accurate information on the price and quality of health care services – is now more important than ever.

“For many consumers, shopping for health care doesn’t feel like an option – it’s simply too complicated,” says David Newman, executive director the Health Care Cost Institute. That’s why HCCI launched today Guroo.com, a website that provides national, state, and local information free to consumers to help them shop and make more informed choices about how they spend their health care dollars, particularly for discretionary services like knee surgery or childbirth.

Guroo puts actual cost information in the consumer’s hand. According to HCCI data, the price for any given medical service can vary dramatically. An MRI, for instance, can vary as much as $342 across the country. And a cataract removal can vary as much as $444. The user-friendly tool is a first step toward greater price transparency; this first iteration gives consumers information about prices for 70 common medical services. Future versions will include prices for over 200 “care bundles,” and will feature a Spanish language version, and incorporate prescription drug costs and some quality comparison information.

The information for Guroo comes from HCCI’s repository of some 3 billion commercial claims data from over 40 million insured Americans–one of the largest and most comprehensive private health insurance claims databases of its kind. The data come from some of the nation’s top insurance companies, including Aetna and UnitedHealthcare. To learn more about the tool and price variation within the health care market, visit www.healthcostinstitute.org and www.guroo.com.