More ways insurance companies are gouging doctors. They are encouraging members to become more adversarial:

In February, Lumenos Inc., a unit of health insurer WellPoint Inc., intends to start offering a service that lets its patients enter the names of drugs into their cellphone Web browsers, which in turn will shoot back a list of comparable drugs, ranked by how much they cost under Lumenos’s plans. That way, patients can ask their doctors about cheaper alternatives while they’re still at their appointment, the company says .

Nevermind that most clinics ban cell phone use during office visits.

Meanwhile, Cigna Corp. intends in the next few months to start telling patients typical prices of different types of doctor visits, including details such as what types of services typically would be provided and how many minutes of face time the patient normally would get with the doctor, based on the price charged. Cigna says it’s not pressing patients to challenge their doctors over their bills, though it would be natural for some to scrutinize the charges.

The future is becoming clear: “Dr. X only spent xx minutes with me. I’m only paying for a 99213, not a 99214!” (via the Health business blog)