Carol.com - The Health Marketplace

Carol.com, as its tagline announces, is a health marketplace, meaning that users can buy from it medical services, just as they make online purchases for any other product or service; it works in the Twin Cities area for the time being, and users who have health insurance, as well as those who don’t can buy their medical services here as well. The site sells both individual appointments and ‘Care Packages’, a predefined set of services your chosen health-care provider will give you. In this way, users can control more effectively their primes and medical costs. The company has plans to allow customized care packages in the future. In any case, using Carol.com is as complicated as buying shoes or plants online: you need to sign up as a member, and then start browsing physicians, health care facilities, laboratories, or any other healthcare related provider. You can also compare their services and pricing using the comparison tool, and make appointments online. Since the service works both for clients who have insurance coverage and those who don’t, it’s a great service to allow you to get in touch with an HCP you will be comfortable with, regardless of whether s/he belongs to your insurance network or not.

“Carol, The Care Marketplace, is a health-care shopping site where you can browse, compare and purchase health-care services from health-care providers throughout the Twin Cities metro”.

Other than the obvious benefits of allowing users to find a reasonably-priced HCP, this service also allows users to find the kind of health-related services that no insurance company ever pays for, like cosmetic surgery, dental, eye (LASIK), behavioral/mental health and alternative care (chiropractors, acupuncture, nutritionist, massage therapy, etc). As all providers can get rated, Carol.com can build up to be a very trustworthy source of professionals and practitioners.

I reckon a good service this site is lacking is drugs Care Packages, that is: to allow users to buy a package of drugs at discounted prices to treat their conditions. Can they consider including an option like this one?