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Foot X-ray at UnityPoint Health - St. Luke's Hospital

1026 A Avenue N.E, Cedar Rapids, IA · UnityPoint Health · · NPI 1083708226

Source: hospital's published price file ↗ · Published Jan 28, 2026 · Ingested Aug 12, 2026

$308.50

Cash price

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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.

Full explanation →

What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.

$385.62

Gross charge

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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.

Full explanation →

The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.

$7.42 with Aetna vs $144.61 with Medica Exchange Insure — 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 →

Payer
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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
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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
Aetna Medicare Advantage $7.42 ↓ -98%
Molina Medicare Advantage $7.57 ↓ -98%
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicare Advantage $7.57 ↓ -98%
Amerivantage Medicare Advantage $7.79 ↓ -97%
Humana Medicare Advantage $7.79 ↓ -97%
United Healthcare Medicare Advantage $7.79 ↓ -97%
United Healthcare HMO $10.74 ↓ -97%
United Healthcare PPO $10.74 ↓ -97%
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield HMO $13.70 ↓ -96%
Wellmark UHP Self-Funded Commercial $13.70 ↓ -96%
Cigna/Midlands Commercial $15.77 ↓ -95%
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield PPO $16.10 ↓ -95%
Health Partners Open Network Commercial $16.22 ↓ -95%
Aetna HMO $18.77 ↓ -94%
Aetna PPO $22.11 ↓ -93%
Amerigroup Managed Medicaid $77.44 ↓ -75%
Iowa Total Care Managed Medicaid $77.44 ↓ -75%
Medica Exchange Inspire Commercial $128.80 ↓ -58%
Medica Exchange Insure Commercial $144.61 ↓ -53%

Visitor-reported prices

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Foot X-ray at other Iowa hospitals

Hospital City Cash price Negotiated range
UnityPoint Health - Iowa Lutheran Hospital Des Moines $389.57 $7.42 – $143.17
MercyOne New Hampton Medical Center New Hampton $339.30 $137.77 – $348.00
UnityPoint Health - Allen Hospital Waterloo $258.84 $7.42 – $170.51
MercyOne Clinton Medical Center Clinton $532.35 $74.50 – $412.00
MercyOne Elkader Medical Center Elkader $339.30 $11.84 – $24.04
MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center Des Moines $3,290.00 $5.11 – $631.00
MercyOne Genesis Davenport West Medical Center Davenport $256.80 $84.28 – $118.00
MercyOne Dubuque Medical Center Dubuque $386.10 $78.07 – $396.00

All Iowa hospitals for this procedure →