Among the many changes and demands that are being made under the new US healthcare reform bill by the Government is the fact that hospitals would have to be more open and public about their standard charges for all services, but it seems that New Hampshire and Maine have gone much further and are looking to make things and cost related issues as transparent for customers as possible.

These are the only two states across the country which currently have websites that allow customers to compare costs based on insurance claims that are paid there.

Since the site went live in 2007, in NH, the price variation across all providers has not lessened. But state officials have been quick to say that their goal was to mere give customers as much information as possible.

New Hampshire Insurance Department health policy analyst Leslie Ludtke, however, has been quick to assert that the state never committed that the costs would be pulled down. "We never made any claims about transparency being the key to bending the cost curve", she said.

Maine's HealthCost site, on the other hand, went live in April, and its complete development was undertaken by the Maine Health Data Organization using New Hampshire's framework. In addition to offering claims data from private insurers, the site includes Medicare and Medicaid claims data.