BCBSA report: Hip, knee replacement billing can vary widely in the same market

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association recently released prices that its insurers are charged by healthcare providers, in a three-year report that covers the cost of knee and hip replacement surgeries.

BCBSA officials said they looked at claims data within 64 different markets and found the average price is $31,124.

That's not always the case, however.

In Dallas — the market with the greatest variance in the BCBSA's report — the price could be as high as $61,585 and as low as $16,772.

The same is of course true between two different markets: A surgery that could cost about $16,000 in Montgomery, Ala., could spike to more than $55,000 in Fort Collins, Colo.

Officials with BCBSA said their report bolsters the common complaint that cost doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of healthcare, adding that it's fairly clear that if consumers shopped around more, cost-savings could be realized.

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