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Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) X-ray at UnityPoint Health - Trinity Muscatine
1518 Mulberry, Muscatine, IA · UnityPoint Health · · NPI 1861444333
$514.23
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.
$642.78
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.
$9.92 with Aetna vs $263.54 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 →
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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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aetna | Medicare Advantage | $9.92 | ↓ -98% |
| Ambetter | HMO | $9.92 | ↓ -98% |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Medicare Advantage | $9.92 | ↓ -98% |
| Health Alliance | Medicare Advantage | $9.92 | ↓ -98% |
| Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Medicare Advantage | $10.12 | ↓ -98% |
| Humana | Medicare Advantage | $10.42 | ↓ -98% |
| Meridian Health Plan | Medicare Advantage | $10.42 | ↓ -98% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Advantage | $10.42 | ↓ -98% |
| United Healthcare | HMO | $14.38 | ↓ -97% |
| United Healthcare | PPO | $14.38 | ↓ -97% |
| Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield | HMO | $18.30 | ↓ -96% |
| Wellmark UPH Self-Funded | Commercial | $18.30 | ↓ -96% |
| Cigna/Midlands | Commercial | $21.08 | ↓ -96% |
| Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield | PPO | $21.50 | ↓ -96% |
| Health Partners Open Network | Commercial | $21.99 | ↓ -96% |
| BC Illinois Community | PPO | $22.87 | ↓ -96% |
| Aetna | HMO | $26.15 | ↓ -95% |
| Aetna | PPO | $29.49 | ↓ -94% |
| BC Illinois Community | Blue Choice | $68.31 | ↓ -87% |
| Amerigroup | Managed Medicaid | $91.84 | ↓ -82% |
| Iowa Total Care | Managed Medicaid | $91.84 | ↓ -82% |
| Medica Exchange Inspire | Commercial | $235.26 | ↓ -54% |
| Medica Exchange Insure | Commercial | $263.54 | ↓ -49% |
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 |