Michigan health insurer pays members to use cost-estimator tool

Michigan-based insurer Priority Health wants to control healthcare costs--so it plans to reward its members who hunt down the best price for their medical procedures, Grand Rapids station 24 Hour News 8 reports. The insurer announced Monday that through its PriorityRewards program, it will present members Visa gift cards valued between $50 and $200 for using the company's cost-estimating tool to choose a fair-priced medical procedure. "These are very expensive procedures and providing them $200 back on a $4,000 procedure just makes good business sense," Joan Budden, chief marketing officer of Priority Health, told the TV station. Article