Your privacy matters.

The short version

Sick of Paying collects healthcare cost submissions from people who choose to contribute them. We ask you not to submit names, account numbers, medical record numbers, addresses, Social Security numbers, photos of bills, or anything that directly identifies you or someone else.

We may collect your email address if you choose to sign up for updates. We do not sell your personal information. We do not use your submissions to provide medical, legal, insurance, or billing advice.

What we collect

When you submit healthcare cost information, we may collect details such as:

• The type of bill, treatment, prescription, insurance charge, or healthcare cost
• The amount billed
• The amount paid by the patient
• The country, state, region, or general location connected to the bill
• Whether insurance was involved
• Basic demographic information if you choose to provide it, such as age range or gender
• Any other non-identifying context you choose to submit

If you sign up for updates, we collect your email address and basic signup information, such as the page where you signed up and the date of signup.

What we do not want you to submit

Please do not submit personally identifying information. That includes:

• Your name
• Someone else’s name
• Your full address
• Your phone number
• Your Social Security number
• Medical record numbers
• Insurance member ID numbers
• Claim numbers
• Account numbers
• Photos or uploads of bills that include identifying information

Sick of Paying is about the system, not exposing individuals.

How we use submissions

We use submitted healthcare cost information to:

• Show what people are being charged for healthcare
• Compare costs across categories, locations, and types of care
• Identify patterns, inconsistencies, and extreme examples
• Create public-facing summaries, charts, examples, and commentary
• Build a crowdsourced dataset showing healthcare billing confusion, inconsistency, and profit

We may display submitted cost information publicly, but we aim to do so without directly identifying the person who submitted it.

Email updates

If you sign up for email updates, we will use your email address to send occasional updates about Sick of Paying, including new data, project updates, insights, or ways to get involved.

You can unsubscribe at any time. We do not sell email addresses.

IP addresses and analytics

We do not intentionally log IP addresses with bill submissions.

Some technical services that help run the website may process basic technical information, such as device, browser, server, or security data. Where possible, we aim to keep analytics and tracking minimal.

Cookies

Sick of Paying may use essential cookies or similar technologies needed for the website to work. If we add analytics, advertising, embedded media, or other tracking tools in the future, we will update this policy and, where required, provide appropriate choices.

Where information is stored

We use third-party services to operate Sick of Paying, including database and hosting providers. These providers may process information on our behalf so the website can function.

We take reasonable steps to limit what we collect and protect the information we store, but no website or database can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

When we share information

We may share aggregated, anonymized, or non-identifying healthcare cost information publicly as part of the Sick of Paying project.

We may also share information if necessary to:

• Operate the website
• Use service providers who help us run the project
• Comply with legal obligations
• Protect the safety, rights, or security of Sick of Paying or others

We do not sell personal information.

Health information

Sick of Paying is not a healthcare provider, insurance company, billing advocate, or medical service. We do not provide medical advice, legal advice, insurance advice, or billing advice.

Even so, healthcare cost information can be sensitive. Please only submit information you are comfortable contributing to a public transparency project, and do not include identifying details.

Children

Sick of Paying is not intended for children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has submitted personal information, please contact us so we can review and delete it where appropriate.

Your choices

You can choose not to submit a bill. You can choose not to sign up for email updates. If you do sign up for emails, you can unsubscribe at any time.

You may also contact us to ask about deleting or correcting information you believe you submitted. Because submissions are designed to be anonymous, we may not always be able to verify or locate a specific submission.

California privacy note

California guidance says privacy policies should clearly explain what personal information is collected and how it is used. California also treats medical information as a category of personal information. This policy is written to explain our practices in plain English.

Depending on how Sick of Paying grows, additional California privacy rights or notices may apply in the future.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as Sick of Paying changes. If we make material changes, we will update the date at the top of this page.

Contact

Questions about this Privacy Policy? Contact us at:

hello@sickofpaying.org