Healthcare cost estimation, provider pricing, insurance benefits, and medical bill analysis for applications.
Use the CostKits API to add US healthcare cost estimates, patient out-of-pocket calculations, provider price comparisons, coverage rules, and bill analysis to your application.
Building an AI assistant or agent instead? Use the CostKits MCP server.
- Healthcare cost estimators — estimate patient out-of-pocket costs for 30 procedures across all 50 US states
- Provider price comparisons — compare negotiated prices from hospital transparency data
- Insurance benefit calculators — apply deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket limits
- Coverage explainers — retrieve prior-authorization rules, cost sharing, frequency limits, and billing triggers
- Medical bill review tools — detect duplicate charges, unbundling, and suspicious reclassification
- Embedded consumer tools — add CostKits widgets to websites and benefits platforms
Building for an AI agent? See costkits-mcp.
curl https://api.costkits.com/v1/demo/estimateNo API key needed for the demo endpoint above — it returns a full sample estimate (colonoscopy in Connecticut) so you can see the response shape immediately. Get a free key →
With a key:
curl -X POST https://api.costkits.com/v1/estimate/procedure \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $COSTKITS_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"procedure": {"type": "colonoscopy"}, "location": {"state": "CT"}}'Example response:
{
"procedure": "Colonoscopy",
"procedure_slug": "colonoscopy",
"state": "Connecticut",
"estimated_total_allowed_amount": {
"low": 800, "median": 1800, "high": 4500,
"source": "hospital_transparency + cms_medicare_rates"
},
"percentiles": { "p25": 800, "p50": 1800, "p75": 4500 },
"estimated_patient_responsibility": { "low": 0, "median": 360, "high": 1800 },
"confidence_score": 0.75,
"data_sources": ["hospital_transparency", "cms_medicare_rates", "costkits_bundle_model_v1"],
"data_vintage": "2026-Q1",
"model_version": "v1.0"
}Next step: the Quickstart guide.
One underlying API, two ways in: integrate the REST API directly in your application (this repo), or give an AI agent live healthcare cost data through the MCP server.
| Capability | Endpoint | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Procedure estimate | POST /v1/estimate/procedure |
Estimate expected cost by procedure and geography |
| Patient liability | POST /v1/estimate/liability |
Apply deductible, coinsurance, copay, and OOP maximum |
| Combined estimate | POST /v1/estimate/full |
Procedure, cost, providers, and liability in one call |
| Provider search | GET /v1/providers |
Find providers with observed negotiated prices |
| Provider profile | GET /v1/providers/{npi} |
Look up a single provider by NPI |
| Coverage rules | GET /v1/coverage/summary (+ prior-auth, cost-sharing, frequency, triggers) |
Retrieve prior auth and benefit rules |
| Bill analysis | POST /v1/bill-analysis |
Flag possible billing anomalies |
| Procedure resolution | GET /v1/procedures/resolve |
Convert free text into a supported procedure slug |
- Quickstart — key to first response in under 2 minutes
- API Reference — Estimates · Providers · Coverage · Procedures · Bill Analysis
- OpenAPI Spec — import into any client generator, API tool, or LLM
- Postman Collection — all 19 endpoints, ready to run
- Authentication · Rate Limits · Errors
- curl — one runnable script per endpoint
- Python · JavaScript · TypeScript
- Widget embeds — drop-in cost widgets for plain HTML, React, Next.js, Vue, and WordPress
| Plan | Monthly Requests | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 100 | $0 |
| Builder | 5,000 | $99/mo |
| Pro | 50,000 | $499/mo |
Full endpoint-by-plan breakdown → docs/plans-and-pricing.md. Sign up at costkits.com/api-keys/.
- Benefits & HR platforms — cost transparency inside your benefits portal
- AI agents & chatbots — ground LLM answers in real pricing data (start with the MCP server)
- Health apps & widgets — embed estimators and provider maps
Although this repository is for direct REST integration, the API is designed to behave predictably inside AI tool loops. Every error response includes an agent_hint — a plain-English instruction telling an LLM tool chain what to call next:
{
"title": "Procedure not found",
"status": 404,
"code": "PROCEDURE_NOT_FOUND",
"agent_hint": "Call GET /v1/procedures/resolve?q=knee xray to find the canonical slug. Closest matches: mri-knee, x-ray."
}For most agent integrations, use the CostKits MCP server, which exposes these endpoints as ready-to-use MCP tools.
Cost estimates are built from:
- CMS hospital price-transparency files
- Medicare physician, outpatient, and ASC fee schedules
- The NPI provider registry
- Commercial payer coverage rules
Responses include:
data_vintagemodel_version- source metadata
- estimate ranges rather than unsupported point estimates
Data refreshes quarterly.
Read the full data and pricing methodology or explore the wider public-data landscape in awesome-healthcare-cost-data.md.
costkits.com · API docs · Interactive demo · Get an API key · MCP server
CostKits is a healthcare cost-transparency platform built by John Caruso, FSA, MAAA, a healthcare actuary with more than 20 years of experience in insurance pricing, medical billing systems, and healthcare cost analytics.
The API powers CostKits consumer tools including cost estimates, provider comparisons, insurance calculations, and bill analysis.
Methodology · Editorial policy
- Bugs & feature requests → GitHub issues
- Security issues → SECURITY.md (email, please — not a public issue)
- Everything else → api@costkits.com