healthcosts.net
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) MRI (without contrast) at Banner Lassen Medical Center
1800 Spring Ridge Drive, Susanville, CA · Banner Health · · NPI 1538197231
$2,448.08
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.
$4,310.00
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.
$48.34 with Anthem Blue Cross California vs $4,180.70 with Health Net — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthem Blue Cross California | Medicare Advantage | $48.34 | ↓ -98% |
| Partnership HealthPlan of CA | Partnership Medi-Cal | $306.90 | ↓ -87% |
| Banner Health | Banner Choice Plus/Banner Select | $1,767.10 | ↓ -28% |
| United Healthcare | UHC Medicare Advantage | $1,767.10 | ↓ -28% |
| Network Providers, LLC | California Prison Health Care Services (CPHCS) | $2,297.23 | ↓ -6% |
| Imperial Health Plan of California, Inc | Medi-Medi/Medicare Advantage | $2,385.59 | ↓ -3% |
| Blue Shield of California | CalPERS PPO | $3,749.70 | ↑ +53% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $3,879.00 | ↑ +58% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $4,008.30 | ↑ +64% |
| Cigna Healthcare & Life Insurance Company – WY | Commercial | $4,094.50 | ↑ +67% |
| Coventry | Commercial | $4,137.60 | ↑ +69% |
| Coventry | Workers Comp | $4,137.60 | ↑ +69% |
| First Health | Medical Rental | $4,137.60 | ↑ +69% |
| Health Net | Commercial Exchange | $4,180.70 | ↑ +71% |
| Health Net | Medicare | $4,180.70 | ↑ +71% |