Exorbital: Health made simple

Credit - Exorbital: Health made simple

What is Exorbital?

Exorbital is a medical technology company tasked with simplifying all aspects of visiting a doctor and navigating the healthcare system. 

By compiling the hassle of finding a doctor, and whether they take your insurance or not, with knowing the initial cost of the medical procedures and having insight on what to expect at the hospital. We are supporting a connection between doctors and their patients, by helping make the complicated system of finding a doctor and knowing the price easier. 

Extending help to those with health insurance or without health insurance. Our vision is to reveal the costs of medical procedures with an easier and more effective user friendly and intuitive website that connect doctors and patients and create a community to support everyone in need of healthcare. 

Simpler, Easier, Better.

Exorbital seeks to solve this problem through the community, by having data and information readily available on the website with accurate directories, unlike insurance companies. Exorbital will provide a platform for the public to report: 

if a doctor is taking new patients  

if a doctor is closed down/out of practice  

if a doctor is in network/takes your health insurance  

if a doctor is a doctor (Some insurance company listings for doctor offices turn out to be fast food restaurants rather than doctors.)

if a doctor takes Medicare or Medicaid 

what procedures are available 

where those procedures are available

how much those procedures cost

what are the best healthcare providers for your insurance

where are the best hospitals, clinics, and doctors in your area

what pharmacies have the best prices for medicine (especially for those without insurance.) 

We will provide a space that allows users to save time and money. 

So never again will you have to sit hours on the phone with your insurance company, sending you to multiple representatives. Turning multiple phone calls into one. 

No, all that work is one click away when you go to Exorbital's website for your easy to understand information. This is healthcare reporting for the people, by the people. 

Exorbital Website Walkthrough

We will raise the bar

Private insurance shouldn't lag behind public insurance, Exorbital will help maintain, on its website, accurate and current directories of doctors, clinics and medical institutions, especially mental facilities.

Our goals for this website is:

to provide understandable information about health procedures and practices. 

to help with the integration of healthcare, connecting the people to their providers, more seamlessly than ever before. 

to assist people in finding where their ‘in network’ doctors are, and if they are taking patients or not. 

to bring more to the table in order to make healthcare more accessible and affordable. 

Should Be Easier

Notice: You don't need a Kickstarter account to back this project! Donate as a guest anonymously. After you click back this project, there should be two options: 'Create an Account' or 'More Options'. Choose 'More Options', select 'Make a pledge' without creating an account. 'Continue as guest'.

PROBLEM

A recent study, conducted by American Psychiatric Association, found that insurance companies do nothing to make sure that their lists are accurate. Sometimes their listings include providers who are dead. These listings are called ghost networks. 

In a study from the Psychiatric Services Journal conducted in 2019, researchers called three hundred and sixty, listed medical institutions from Blue Cross Blue Shield, one of the biggest health insurance companies in America. 

Only 26% of them, the researchers could contact and make appointments with. Meanwhile out of the other 74%; some were for doctors who weren't taking new patients, some didn't take Blue Cross BlueShield at all, and some weren't even health care providers.

It costs more to be out of network. 

In network means you pay less than out of network, but do you know the initial prices? Published by BlueCross BlueShield.

The system puts you, second, and itself, first.

People pay monthly insurance fees so that they are covered if the need to go to the doctor, clinic or hospital should arise. Insurance providers have a network of doctors, whose patients are sometimes covered for visits.

 Although outside of that network, patients aren't covered. Insurance providers may cover services considered medically necessary by doctors, but often will not cover services which are considered “elective". 

Insurance companies will opt to keep their costs down, while only trying to cover necessary health care. This was only made worse by COVID-19.

The difference in prices for an MRI at various hospitals

Hospitals don't compete because no one knows the price before they go. No one knows the cost of a procedure. Shouldn't you be able to choose which health facility you use based on affordable rather than availability? Provided by ABC News.

But since insurance companies are private, for-profit companies, many Americans had been left uninsured because they could not afford to be, or did not want insurance, or because they were rejected as a result of pre-existing conditions, which should have been fixed under the Affordable Care Act. 

This is a massive problem in our country, we have millions of people without insurance and millions who can't afford their medical bills. 

They need to know the cost of medical procedures, rooms, services and medicine and this would make all the difference, at the end of the day. Exorbital will help everyone, for we strive to achieve transparency and competency.

Medical bills shouldn't be frustrating

SOLUTION

We plan is to stop 25% of Americans from skipping out on getting healthcare because of the cost. To stop the five hour phone calls to find out what provider can accept your insurance plan. We want people to feel confident that they can deal with their medical issues without hassle. 

Providing a free space, a website, for people to self report, so that everyone can save time and money. A website and app filled with understandable information about health procedures and practices. 

That will help with the integration of healthcare, connecting the people to their providers, more seamlessly than ever before. Assisting people in their search for ‘in-network’ doctors, and if they are taking patients or not while bringing more to the table in order to make healthcare more accessible and affordable. 

How will your pledge help? 

Your pledge will help kickstart a self-reporting community and create a free tool that shows the cost of medical procedures and make finding a doctor easier.

Website development: Since our goal is related to such a serious and professional industry -the medical field- it is suitable that we hold our website to the same high standards. 

Although we have a beta version prepared; your pledge will fund the hiring costs for more developers who would evolve our site and make it easier to use. 

Creating something new often involves serious examination, and an abundance of trial-and-error. This is something we have all experienced, the same idea applies to our site. Professional developers are our tool in building a seamless final product.

Mobile Application: Post-launch of the website, we will be aiming to build an app for the simple reason of convenience. 

Your pledges will help fund the research and development of this mobile app that will be accessible for both iOS and Android users. Exorbital will compile all the information provided by the public into the palm of your hand.

Building a community: One of the most important reasons for fundraising is utilizing the community to create a database of readily accessible, self-reported medical information. 

Users will have the ability to build this database, which will provide both transparency and knowledge. 

The reliability of information is a key function of the site, as well as the number of contributors, so spreading awareness is the number one priority. This will require advertising and marketing services.

The People Behind Exorbital

Inspired by essential workers and a personal experience, a small group of a dozen developers, medical students, and designers developed an online system to help make getting into the doctor's office a more efficient and effective process. 

We are currently creating a website and mobile app with one goal in mind: to make our healthcare system more accessible by transforming how people across America and around the world receive health care, using innovative tools that will positively change everyone's lives. 

Exorbital has approached and has been advised by dozens of doctors and hundreds of released patients who have been through the healthcare system and they support our idea and organization fully. 

His Story

The primary reason, Exorbital started after after one of our board member's personal experience with the American healthcare system. This is his story:

My family came to America, because it is the land of opportunity. We lived a good life where we came from, but when I was younger my parents realized that my higher educational goals and career aspirations were not possible in my home country. So, along with my sister and me, they packed up and decided to leave the only home we had ever known for my sake.

 Within a year of moving my father was diagnosed with a rare form of Myasthenia Gravis, in addition to cancer. He survived but my parents had to utilize $100,000 of settling money to save him. 

That fact they hid from my sister and me. My father lived cancer-free for nine years, however, it came back in December 2019. 

Before COVID-19 reached the United States, he started chemotherapy.  Our family was sure that he was going to beat it again like he did after his initial diagnosis. 

But on March 18th, 2020, while I was in the UK, he was hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms in Sarasota. Luckily, he did not have the virus, his system was clear, he was supposed to be fine. Or so we thought.  But as the days went on, we realized that something was amiss.  

This sense of uneasiness was compounded by the fact that the doctors were swamped, and the hospital offered little explanation to my family as to what to expect both medically and financially. For the most part my mother was left in the dark as to what was going on.  

Sadly, my father passed away, March 25th, 2020, at the age of 45. Within three days of his death, my mother received a hospital bill in the amount of a quarter of a million dollars.  Needless to say, in the middle of our grief this came as a huge shock.  

The hospital had provided no healthcare estimates beforehand, therefore she was not prepared for that enormous bill.  

Where was the transparency?

 As a result of this situation I started researching the healthcare system and gained an understanding of its flaws, especially the insurance system.

 I spoke to people to try to garner knowledge of their personal experiences with the system and eventually I created a self-reporting system to help these people help themselves. 

Although my father’s disease was rare, I believe that our story as it relates to the healthcare system is not unique.  

I firmly believe this system should not be as complicated as it is, and that we as citizens should fix it ourselves. We can't wait for big companies or the government to fix it for us. We the people should find a solution together.

Hey wait, what about people who visit or migrate to America?

See Also: Murzvinsky on Reddit

Although Exorbital is currently only working in the United States, it will expand when the opportunity arises to help more people across the world. 

But for now, it will help those who are uninsured, can't afford insurance, has terrible insurance, has great insurance, and those who don't even need insurance in the United States. It will also help any travelers visiting America with travel health insurance and newly immigrated green card and/or visa holders. 

So, support us if you can. Thank you