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Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) X-ray at UnityPoint Health - Finley Hospital

350 North Grandview Avenue, Dubuque, IA · UnityPoint Health · · NPI 1942392600

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

$244.61

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.

$305.76

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.

$9.92 with Aetna vs $244.61 with Quartz Health — 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 $9.92 ↓ -96%
Molina Medicare Advantage $10.12 ↓ -96%
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicare Advantage $10.12 ↓ -96%
Amerivantage Medicare Advantage $10.42 ↓ -96%
Humana Medicare Advantage $10.42 ↓ -96%
Meridian MMAI (Medicare-Medicaid) $10.42 ↓ -96%
United Healthcare Medicare Advantage $10.42 ↓ -96%
United Healthcare HMO $14.38 ↓ -94%
United Healthcare PPO $14.38 ↓ -94%
Medical Associates Health Plan HMO $14.88 ↓ -94%
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield HMO $18.30 ↓ -93%
Wellmark UPH Self-Funded Commercial $18.30 ↓ -93%
Cigna/Midlands Commercial $21.08 ↓ -91%
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield PPO $21.50 ↓ -91%
Health Partners Open Network Commercial $21.99 ↓ -91%
BC Illinois Community PPO $22.87 ↓ -91%
Aetna HMO $26.15 ↓ -89%
Aetna PPO $29.49 ↓ -88%
Dean Health Plan HMO $32.20 ↓ -87%
BC Illinois Community Blue Choice $68.31 ↓ -72%
Amerigroup Managed Medicaid $93.50 ↓ -62%
Iowa Total Care Managed Medicaid $93.50 ↓ -62%
Medica Exchange Inspire Commercial $112.52 ↓ -54%
Medica Exchange Insure Commercial $125.97 ↓ -49%
Quartz Health HMO $244.61 ↑ +0%

Visitor-reported prices

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Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) X-ray at other Iowa hospitals

Hospital City Cash price Negotiated range
UnityPoint Health - Iowa Lutheran Hospital Des Moines $456.72 $9.92 – $167.84
UnityPoint Health - Allen Hospital Waterloo $111.20 $9.92 – $88.15
MercyOne Genesis Davenport West Medical Center Davenport $235.20 $101.79 – $142.51
MercyOne New Hampton Medical Center New Hampton $286.00 $174.20 – $440.00
MercyOne Clinton Medical Center Clinton $418.60 $96.27 – $644.00
MercyOne Dyersville Medical Center Dyersville $286.00 $166.32 – $495.26
MercyOne Oelwein Medical Center Oelwein $286.00 $168.17 – $440.00
MercyOne Cedar Falls Medical Center Cedar Falls $1,113.00 $98.49 – $861.00

All Iowa hospitals for this procedure →