Does your doctor deserve what you pay him?

Ever wondered why the cost of reproductive healthcare is so variable? And how do you know you are paying for what you get, and not being short-changed?

Making decisions on where to seek reproductive health services can be a daunting task with so many service providers available. Among other factors, the cost of service must be among your top considerations.

You will see variations in the cost of care from consultations and tests, to operative procedures. It is not unusual for similar service providers to have very different prices for comparable services. An example is the cost of a normal delivery.

One provider’s cost may be in the five figure ranges, while another provider’s cost will easily hit six figures.

And this despite other factors seemingly being constant. Who gets better value, the five-figure payer or the one splashing out six figures?

You can only have an idea of what you are paying for if you seek information upfront. Healthcare costs should never be arbitrary. Many factors must be considered, the most important being the quality of service and overall outcomes.

Quality is measured in many ways, international certifications provide a good guidance. But this does not necessarily guarantee value for your money. There still may be aspects of care that don’t measure up.

You may wish to find a way of comparing doctors, hospitals and other service providers. Self-rating is not uncommon, with some providers implying better services than their competitors. Be wary of costs that may be based on a provider’s self-bloated rankings.

Value for money is not necessarily found in the most expensive places, you may find cost-effective packages with some quiet service providers who mainly concentrate on doing their best.

In California, a medical scheme realised they were paying between Sh1.7m ($20,000) and Sh10.3m ($ 120,000) for the same procedure in various facilities across the state. And the more expensive facilities didn’t have better outcomes. They came up with a reference based pricing system, and determined an average cost for the procedure to be about Sh2.6m ($30,000). And that’s what they paid henceforth, and care standards didn’t drop a single iota.

You too, can individually make smart choices about what you pay for reproductive healthcare. Ask for the relevant information upfront. Why does it cost so much in one place and not the other? Is the quality, however defined, similar?

 And are the outcomes of interest to you any different? Once you are armed with such information, you can make a choice. You could still choose to have your care in more expensive settings, but take responsibility of spending more money than may be necessary.

The healthcare industry must price their services responsibly too. It’s the only way medical insurance becomes affordable to many.