A New York Daily News column by “money coach” Jean Chatzky shows consumers that it is possible to comparison-shop for health care services. Chatzky notes some of the resources available to patients:

[Health care] prices are starting to emerge. Private insurers like Aetna have started programs in parts of the country (Cincinnati is an early example) where they’ll publish online the exact prices they’ve negotiated with doctors in the area for hundreds of medical procedures and tests…

Healthgrades, which is the largest provider of quality information on doctors and hospitals, is now publishing information on 55 different surgeries and procedures and what they cost on average, in total, across the country…

Chatzky offers patients the following advice:

Price Shop… Get the difference between the list price (what doctors and hospitals bill for, on average) and the discounted or negotiated price that a health plan negotiated (which you and your insurer typically share). These prices can be hugely different.

Negotiate… 70% of adults who talked with a hospital say they were successful in negotiating a lower price for their medical bills… 61% who negotiated with a doctor were successful…

Ask About Cheaper Options. There are often less costly choices to what the doctor has prescribed…

And last. If you’re one of the 40 million people without health insurance, you should know that one of these high deductible plans may in fact make insurance affordable for you.

Chatzky even tells the story of Cato board member Lew Randall, whose doctor recommended a less-expensive barium X‑ray (instead of an MRI) when Randall noted he would be paying cash. “If it were my shoulder, that’s what I’d have,” the doctor said. Randall saved $900 on that visit alone.

Health savings accounts have passed an important milestone now that consumer advocates are debunking the myth that health care is too complicated for consumers to be making their own decisions.