healthcosts.net
Screening Colonoscopy (average risk) at UnityPoint Health - Allen Hospital
1825 Logan Avenue, Waterloo, IA · UnityPoint Health · · NPI 1336231091
$813.60
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.
$1,017.00
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.
$82.56 with Aetna vs $755.69 with Iowa Total Care — 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 | $82.56 | ↓ -90% |
| Molina | Medicare Advantage | $84.21 | ↓ -90% |
| Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Medicare Advantage | $84.21 | ↓ -90% |
| Amerivantage | Medicare Advantage | $86.69 | ↓ -89% |
| Humana | Medicare Advantage | $86.69 | ↓ -89% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Advantage | $86.69 | ↓ -89% |
| Health Partners Open Network | Commercial | $112.46 | ↓ -86% |
| Cigna/Midlands | Commercial | $216.50 | ↓ -73% |
| Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield | HMO | $352.30 | ↓ -57% |
| Wellmark UPH Self-Funded | Commercial | $352.30 | ↓ -57% |
| Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield | PPO | $414.50 | ↓ -49% |
| Aetna | HMO | $455.26 | ↓ -44% |
| Aetna | PPO | $530.75 | ↓ -35% |
| United Healthcare | HMO | $582.93 | ↓ -28% |
| United Healthcare | PPO | $582.93 | ↓ -28% |
| Amerigroup | Managed Medicaid | $755.69 | ↓ -7% |
| Iowa Total Care | Managed Medicaid | $755.69 | ↓ -7% |
| Medica Exchange Insure | Commercial | not published by hospital | — |
| Medica Exchange Inspire | Commercial | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Screening Colonoscopy (average risk) at other Iowa hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| MercyOne Waterloo Medical Center | Waterloo | $4,541.75 | $2.28 – $4,235.59 |
| UnityPoint Health - Iowa Lutheran Hospital | Des Moines | $813.60 | $82.56 – $878.39 |
| MercyOne Genesis Davenport West Medical Center | Davenport | $612.60 | not published |
| MercyOne Dubuque Medical Center | Dubuque | $3,890.57 | $2.46 – $1,858.14 |
| MercyOne New Hampton Medical Center | New Hampton | $3,434.92 | $2.46 – $582.81 |
| MercyOne Dyersville Medical Center | Dyersville | $5,346.67 | $2.79 – $2.79 |
| MercyOne Clinton Medical Center | Clinton | $8,660.27 | $2.28 – $1,990.07 |
| MercyOne Cedar Falls Medical Center | Cedar Falls | $5,309.60 | $2.28 – $4,235.59 |