Why we publish prices before you ask

Ask what a knee replacement costs abroad and you will usually be asked for your phone number first. The price arrives later, by email, from someone whose incentive is to close you rather than inform you. By then you have already spent a week of attention and given away your details.

We think that order is backwards, so on CURA the price is the first thing you see. Every published procedure carries a figure and a list of what that figure includes, before you create an account or speak to anyone.

What a price has to carry

A number on its own is not transparency. A surgical quote that omits the implant, the hospital stay, or the physiotherapy is not a lower price, it is a smaller promise. So providers list inclusions and exclusions alongside the figure.

• The figure, in the provider’s own currency
• What the figure covers, itemised
• What it does not cover, stated rather than implied
• Whether it is fixed or a starting point

A price you have to earn the right to see is not a price. It is a negotiating position.

We do not touch the number

CURA takes nothing out of your treatment cost and adds nothing to it. What the hospital charges is what you see. Payment is arranged directly with them, through their own systems, which is also why we can be relaxed about showing the figure early. We are not protecting a margin inside it.

The obvious objection is that prices vary by case, and they do. That is what a starting price is for, and it is why a booking request is a request rather than a checkout. The provider still confirms. But you begin the conversation knowing roughly where you stand, which is the least a platform can offer.