FAIR Health Consumer Website Shows Widespread Use in 2018

January 17, 2019

In 2018, consumers across the country made widespread use of fairhealthconsumer.org, FAIR Health’s free, award-winning, healthcare cost transparency website, according to year-end statistics that provide insight into users’ demographics and background.

FAIR Health Consumer, which includes medical and dental cost lookup tools and rich educational material, reached hundreds of thousands of users and received millions of page views in 2018, according to FAIR Health analytics. Visitors to the site, 85 percent of whom were new, hailed from every region of the country. The average time visitors spent on the website was 3 minutes and 42 seconds, which is higher than the industry standard and suggests substantial user engagement.

The site’s geographical reach expanded in 2018, with some states showing particular growth. In Oregon, usage increased by over 300 percent. There were also dramatic increases in Virginia, North Carolina, Utah, Kansas and Texas. Nationally, consumers with all types of insurance status used the site, but the percentages of those uninsured or going out of network increased.

FAIR Health Consumer users looked up costs for medical and dental procedures almost evenly in 2018 (55 percent and 45 percent, respectively), in contrast to previous years when medical cost lookups dominated. In fact, the top referring sources to FAIR Health Consumer were articles focused on dental costs.

Nearly 33 percent of visitors were directed to the website through an organic search (i.e., from a search engine), while about 17 percent were referred through media mentions and social media links (primarily on Facebook). Sixty-five percent of users accessed the website on their desktop, while 30 percent used their mobile device.

FAIR Health Consumer’s educational material received a greater number of visitors than in the past, with traffic to the Insurance Basics articles on health insurance increasing by over 350 percent.

Other statistics include:

• Age:
  • 18-24: 9.3 percent;
  • 25-34: 28.4 percent;
  • 35-44: 26.2 percent;
  • 45-54: 15.1 percent;
  • 55-64: 12.7 percent; and
  • 65+: 8.3 percent.
    
• Gender:
  • Women: 52 percent; and
  • Men: 48 percent.

In September 2018, FAIR Health launched fairhealthconsumidor.org, a newly expanded Spanish-language version of the consumer website. Spanish-speaking audiences appeared to use FAIR Health Consumidor differently than their English-speaking counterparts used FAIR Health Consumer. The top searched medical term on FAIR Health Consumidor was “psychotherapy,” which did not come up in the top 10 search terms on the English website. (The top medical term searched on FAIR Health Consumer was “MRI.”)

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: “We are pleased that consumers across the country are finding their way to the healthcare cost estimate tools and educational materials available on FAIR Health Consumer. Helping consumers navigate the complexities of the healthcare system is an integral part of FAIR Health’s mission.”

For information on private-labeling FAIR Health’s consumer resources for use by your organization, email us at info@fairhealth.org or call us at 800-301-3247, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 6 pm ET.