The non-profit organization Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) launched guroo.com, a consumer-focused website providing national, state and local cost information for common health conditions and services. The goal of the site is to give consumers information on the costs and quality of health care so they can make more informed choices about how they spend their health care dollars.

The service uses claims from multiple insurers for more than 40 million insured individuals, which — the press release reads — are numbers no one else has. Right now, guroo.com can provide estimated costs for more than 70 common health services such as childbirth, knee pain, an MRI or a physician office visit, with future updates bringing support for additional healthcare services.

The website is free and accessible to everyone, regardless of whether they have insurance or who their insurer is. It is consumer friendly, presenting cost information in a unique manner using care bundles and steps rather than difficult to understand procedure codes. The site also summarizes the steps of care when appropriate and shows the cost of each step. In addition, consumers also get questions they can use when talking with their health care provider to better understand their choices and help achieve a quality health outcome.

“For many consumers, shopping for health care doesn’t feel like an option – it’s simply too complicated,” said David Newman, Executive Director of HCCI. “Guroo intends to change this by showing consumers they can shop for health care and elect where they spend their health care dollars.”

The service uses claims from multiple insurers for more than 40 million insured individuals.Guroo’s claims data come from some of the nation’s leading health insurance companies, such as Aetna, Assurant Health, Humana and UnitedHealthcare. All health care payers are invited to join the initiative and other insurers are expected to join in later this year.

Although guroo.com was designed specifically for consumers, HCCI recognizes that it will also be valuable to employers, policy makers, and regulators who can now access prices and how costs compare nationally and locally.