UnitedHealthcare has made its Health4Me iOS and Android app available to all consumers, not just UnitedHealthcare plan participants which used to be the case before. Available as a free download from Apple’s AppStore and Google Play Store, the application offers an array of health care information, ability to locate nearby providers and various care facilities, review market average prices for more than 520 medical services across 290 episodes of care, and more easily anticipate and manage health care expenses based on local estimates.

The company proudly emphasizes the fact that it is among the first national health care companies to enable all consumers to comparison shop for medical services using a “guest” version of myHealthcare Cost Estimator, which is a mobile medical price transparency service.

Since its introduction in 2012, myHealthcare Cost Estimator has generated more than $2.3 billion in estimates from its database of some 726,000 health care professionals and 5,600 hospitals.“Giving consumers access to important medical cost information is improving transparency and making it easier for people to navigate the health care system,” said Yasmine Winkler, UnitedHealthcare’s chief product, marketing and innovation officer. “With reliable and actionable information about the prices of services, consumers now have an important resource at their fingertips that can help them make decisions to improve their health and save money.”

UnitedHealthcare plan participants get estimates that are personalized to reflect their own health plan benefits, including his or her real-time account balances when applicable, and provide a comprehensive view of what consumers should expect throughout their course of treatment. Estimates are based on available fee schedules and actual contracted rates with care providers; in the small number of cases when that information is not available, estimates are based on historical claims with the care provider.

Since its introduction in 2012, myHealthcare Cost Estimator has generated more than $2.3 billion in estimates from its database of some 726,000 health care professionals and 5,600 hospitals.