Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at Sanford Sheldon Medical Center
118 N 7th Ave, Sheldon, IA · Sanford Health · · NPI 1841200623
$61.65
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.
$77.06
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.
$14.25 with Sanford Health Plan Align vs $45.00 with Multiplan — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford Health Plan Align | Medicare Replacement | $14.25 | ↓ -77% |
| Ucare | Medicare Replacement | $15.30 | ↓ -75% |
| Great Plains Medicare Advantage | Medicare Replacement | $15.45 | ↓ -75% |
| Aetna | Medicare Replacement | $15.45 | ↓ -75% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota | Medicare Replacement | $15.45 | ↓ -75% |
| Health Partners | Medicare Replacement | $15.45 | ↓ -75% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Replacement | $15.45 | ↓ -75% |
| Primewest | Medicare Replacement | $15.75 | ↓ -74% |
| Wellmark | HMO | $25.00 | ↓ -59% |
| Wellmark | PPO | $26.00 | ↓ -58% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Group Health/True | $26.79 | ↓ -57% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange True | $26.79 | ↓ -57% |
| Security Health Plan | Commercial | $27.50 | ↓ -55% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Commercial/ND Pers | $31.52 | ↓ -49% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange Commercial | $31.52 | ↓ -49% |
| Health Partners | State Employees | $33.00 | ↓ -46% |
| Health Partners | Commercial | $37.50 | ↓ -39% |
| Medica | Choice | $41.25 | ↓ -33% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial + Top 20 | $41.75 | ↓ -32% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $43.45 | ↓ -30% |
| Ucare | Commercial | $43.93 | ↓ -29% |
| Medica | Elect | $44.10 | ↓ -28% |
| Healthez | Commercial | $45.00 | ↓ -27% |
| First Choice Health Network | Commercial | $45.00 | ↓ -27% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $45.00 | ↓ -27% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at other Iowa hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UnityPoint Health - Allen Hospital | Waterloo | not published | $2.18 – $5.86 |
| UnityPoint Health - Finley Hospital | Dubuque | not published | $2.18 – $8.14 |
| UnityPoint Health - Grinnell Regional Medical Center | Grinnell | not published | $2.18 – $5.86 |
| UnityPoint Health - Iowa Lutheran Hospital | Des Moines | not published | $2.18 – $5.86 |
| UnityPoint Health - Jones Regional Medical Center | Anamosa | not published | $2.18 – $5.86 |
| UnityPoint Health - Marshalltown | Marshalltown | not published | $2.18 – $5.86 |
| UnityPoint Health - St. Lukes Downtown | Sioux City | not published | $2.18 – $5.86 |
| UnityPoint Health - Trinity Bettendorf | Bettendorf | not published | $2.18 – $7.01 |