Privacy policy

US Health Care Costs (ushealthcarecosts.com) is published by Blade Media LLC. This page explains, in plain words, what happens to information about you when you visit.

The short version. You can't create an account here and we never ask for your name, your insurance details or your medical history. What you type into the search box, the comparison and the cost estimator stays in your browser. Like most free websites, this one uses Google Analytics to count visits and Google ads to pay for itself, and both set cookies.

What we don't collect

No accounts, sign-ups, forms or payments.
No health information. The cost estimator works out its answer inside your browser from files anyone can download; your deductible, coinsurance and coverage choices are not sent to us or stored.
Search and hospital comparisons also run in your browser. The page address may show which procedure, state or hospitals you picked, as with any web page you open.

What is collected when you visit

Server logs. Like every website, our server and our network provider, Cloudflare, record each request: the page, the time, your IP address, and your browser type. We use these to keep the site running and to block abuse.
Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics to see how many people visit and which pages they read. It sets cookies and collects information such as your approximate location (from your IP address), device and browser, and the pages you view. We see totals, not individuals.
Advertising. Ads on this site are served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners use cookies to show ads based on your earlier visits to this and other websites.
Maps. Hospital pages show a map from OpenStreetMap. When it loads, your browser contacts OpenStreetMap's servers, which see your IP address. The Directions link opens Google Maps only if you click it.
Email. If you write to us, we keep your message and address to answer you.

Your choices

Turn off personalised Google ads in Google's Ads Settings, or opt out of personalised ads from many companies at aboutads.info.
Read how Google uses information from sites that use its services.
Block Google Analytics with Google's opt-out add-on.
Block or delete cookies in your browser's settings. The site works without them.

Selling and sharing

We do not sell information about visitors, and we have no list of visitors to sell. The advertising and analytics cookies described above are set by Google; some state privacy laws treat that kind of advertising as "sharing". The choices above let you turn it off.

Children

This site is written for adults and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect information from children.

Hospitals and other organizations

The site publishes information about hospitals, not about patients. It comes from public government data and from the price files hospitals are required to publish. See About the data.

Changes and contact

If what we do changes, this page changes with it and the date at the top is updated. Questions: [email protected].