MRA without cont, abd at UnityPoint Health - Iowa Lutheran Hospital
1200 Pleasant St, Des Moines, IA · UnityPoint Health · · NPI 1356433049
$2,378.29
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.
$2,972.86
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.
$230.12 with Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield vs $1,287.25 with Cigna/Midlands — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Medicare Advantage | $230.12 | ↓ -90% |
| Molina | Medicare Advantage | $230.12 | ↓ -90% |
| Aetna | Medicare Advantage | $230.12 | ↓ -90% |
| Iowa Total Care | Managed Medicaid | $232.88 | ↓ -90% |
| Amerigroup | Managed Medicaid | $232.88 | ↓ -90% |
| Humana | Medicare Advantage | $236.89 | ↓ -90% |
| Amerivantage | Medicare Advantage | $236.89 | ↓ -90% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Advantage | $236.89 | ↓ -90% |
| Health Partners Open Network | Commercial | $312.45 | ↓ -87% |
| Aetna | HMO | $485.23 | ↓ -80% |
| Aetna | PPO | $555.71 | ↓ -77% |
| United Healthcare | PPO | $588.24 | ↓ -75% |
| United Healthcare | HMO | $588.24 | ↓ -75% |
| Medica Exchange Inspire | Commercial | $778.89 | ↓ -67% |
| Medica Exchange Insure | Commercial | $874.02 | ↓ -63% |
| Cigna/Midlands | Commercial | $1,287.25 | ↓ -46% |
| Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield | HMO | not published by hospital | — |
| Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield | PPO | not published by hospital | — |
| Wellmark UPH Self-Funded | Commercial | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
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MRA without cont, abd at other Iowa hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| MercyOne Dubuque Medical Center | Dubuque | $2,128.75 | $214.06 – $3,275.00 |
| MercyOne Waterloo Medical Center | Waterloo | $1,978.60 | $224.79 – $3,044.00 |
| UnityPoint Health - Allen Hospital | Waterloo | $1,420.27 | $200.36 – $1,148.64 |
| UnityPoint Health - Finley Hospital | Dubuque | $733.60 | $212.53 – $843.64 |
| UnityPoint Health - Grinnell Regional Medical Center | Grinnell | $733.60 | $230.12 – $240.50 |
| UnityPoint Health - Jones Regional Medical Center | Anamosa | $1,999.62 | $907.33 – $2,217.07 |
| UnityPoint Health - Marshalltown | Marshalltown | $1,420.27 | $227.32 – $1,416.71 |
| UnityPoint Health - St. Lukes Downtown | Sioux City | $1,104.48 | $214.07 – $897.39 |