A Marketplace for Health Care

"Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to, only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer."
--Adam Smith

Carol is a health care marketplace that basically allows you to purchase care packages for what you need. Say you have a sore throat and you're worried it might be something worse. Using Carol's body chart, you click on the throat region, scroll down to sore throat and click on the test, treatment or procedure that most suits your condition. In this case, the options are mononucleosis (mono) symptoms: evaluation & treatment and sore throat: evaluation & management. Clicking on the latter leads to a "compare care packages" page where you can select a vendor based on price and facility.

This is a really innovative way of shopping for health care services. With a "shopping bag" as the checkout cart, bright colors and stylistic fonts, it feels more like you're shopping for clothes on Macy's site than buying an MRI for your knee. The prices are within reason but for now I only see people using this as supplemental insurance (especially for dental care) or if they're lacking insurance for some time. If I were old or poor though, several things would prohibit me from taking advantage of this service; (1) ready access to the internet, (2) tech-savvyness (3) scope of care...oh and the fact that Medicare and Medicaid exist.

What's hard for everyone is terminology. I had no idea what blepharoplasty was until I clicked on it (its eyelid surgery). On the other end of the coin, now I know exactly what it is! Its a great way to learn about health care; the real costs, different insurance models, and how it can be delivered.

Right now we have very little choice. Not anything that's affordable for sure. Carol, while a work in progress, is making headway in providing consumers options to choose from. Making health care more transparent is business everyone benefits from.

EDIT: For a lot more on Carol, check out Scott Shreeve's insightful & detailed commentary here.