Lactation class at Mercy Medical Center Merced
333 Mercy Ave., Merced, CA · CommonSpirit Health · · NPI 1518018191
$213.73
Cash price Discounted cash price What a hospital charges a self-pay patient who pays directly, without going through insurance — usually well below the gross charge. Example: A CT scan has a $3,200 gross charge but an $850 discounted cash price. Ask for it by name when scheduling — hospitals don't always advertise it up front.
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What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$415.00
Gross charge Gross charge (chargemaster price) The hospital's full, undiscounted list price — pulled from its internal "chargemaster" price list. Almost no one actually pays this. Example: A chest X-ray has a gross charge of $1,450. The same hospital's discounted cash price for the same X-ray is $180 — the gross charge mostly anchors negotiations, not what patients pay.
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The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.
$249.00 with Healthsmart vs $14,950.00 with United — same scan, same building. Share
Negotiated rates by payer
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Negotiated rate
The price a specific insurance plan agreed to pay the hospital for a service — it varies by insurer, and even by plan within the same insurer.
Example: The same knee MRI has a negotiated rate of $904 with one insurer's PPO plan and $1,509 with another's — identical hospital, identical scan.
Full explanation →
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Negotiated rate
The price a specific insurance plan agreed to pay the hospital for a service — it varies by insurer, and even by plan within the same insurer.
Example: The same knee MRI has a negotiated rate of $904 with one insurer's PPO plan and $1,509 with another's — identical hospital, identical scan.
Full explanation →Payer ?Payer The insurance company footing the bill — Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Medicare, and so on. Example: "Blue Cross Blue Shield" is the payer. Its negotiated rate for an MRI might be $904, while a different payer's negotiated rate for the same scan is $1,509. Full explanation → |
Plan ?Plan The specific product an insurer sells — e.g. "Blue Cross PPO 500" — which sets your deductible, coinsurance and negotiated rates. Example: Two people both insured by Aetna can owe very different amounts for the same MRI: $50 with an HMO plan's flat copay, or the full $1,200 toward a high-deductible PPO plan's unmet deductible. Full explanation → |
Negotiated rate | vs. cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthsmart | Commercial|All Plans | $249.00 | ↑ +17% |
| Cigna | Commercial|All Other Plans | $269.75 | ↑ +26% |
| Cigna | Commercial|PPO | $269.75 | ↑ +26% |
| Kaiser | Commercial|All Plans | $286.35 | ↑ +34% |
| First Health | Commercial|All Plans | $332.00 | ↑ +55% |
| MultiPlan | Commercial|All Plans | $390.10 | ↑ +83% |
| United | Commercial|Non-Options PPO | $415.00 | ↑ +94% |
| United | Commercial|All Other Plans | $9,362.00 | ↑ +4280% |
| United | Commercial|Options PPO | $9,722.00 | ↑ +4449% |
| United | Commercial|HMO | $14,950.00 | ↑ +6895% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Lactation class at other California hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arroyo Grande Hospital | Santa Maria | $24.40 | $20.00 – $40.00 |
| French Hospital | San Luis Obispo | $22.74 | $10.80 – $39.20 |
| Mercy Hospitals – Bakersfield | Bakersfield | $161.39 | $217.50 – $348.00 |
| Bakersfield Memorial Hospital | Bakersfield | $159.65 | $217.50 – $435.00 |
| St. Joseph's Medical Center Stockton | Stockton | $104.96 | $74.97 – $292.74 |
| Sequoia Hospital | Redwood City | $175.45 | $30.10 – $19,277.00 |
| St. Mary Medical Center | Long Beach | $178.45 | $103.75 – $415.00 |
| Community Hospital San Bernardino | San Bernardino | $178.69 | $251.35 – $8,268.00 |