WASHINGTON, June 2 (UPI) -- U.S. consumers will now be able to find out how much Medicare pays to hospitals for 30 common procedures including heart surgeries.
The effort by the Bush administration is designed to help consumers compare the price and quality of healthcare, reports the Wall Street Journal.
"Once people gain better information, they become better consumers of healthcare, and that helps get healthcare costs down and quality of care up," said Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.
The information broken down by county is available on the Web site of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which operates the Medicare program. The government said Medicare plans to add more data to help consumers choose hospitals and doctors.
