MRI brain w/dye at Atrium Health Lincoln
433 McAlister Rd, Lincolnton, NC · Atrium Health · · NPI 1730055054
$429.65
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.
$859.30
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.
$96.93 with Amerihealth Caritas vs $816.34 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amerihealth Caritas | Managed Medicaid | $96.93 | ↓ -77% |
| Alliance | Behavioral Health | $97.87 | ↓ -77% |
| Healthy Blue | Managed Medicaid | $98.73 | ↓ -77% |
| Wellcare | Managed Medicaid | $98.73 | ↓ -77% |
| Carolina Complete Health | Managed Medicaid | $98.73 | ↓ -77% |
| Vaya | Managed Medicaid | $99.68 | ↓ -77% |
| Partners | Managed Medicaid | $99.68 | ↓ -77% |
| Alliance | Managed Medicaid | $100.71 | ↓ -77% |
| Trillium | Managed Medicaid | $101.66 | ↓ -76% |
| United Healthcare | Managed Medicaid | $133.31 | ↓ -69% |
| Cigna Healthspring | Medicare Advantage | $155.56 | ↓ -64% |
| Humana | Medicare Advantage | $158.67 | ↓ -63% |
| Aetna | Medicare Advantage | $161.00 | ↓ -63% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Advantage | $161.45 | ↓ -62% |
| OrthoCarolina | Commercial | $194.45 | ↓ -55% |
| Aetna | Connected North Carolina Individual HMO | $227.71 | ↓ -47% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | Local Group Commercial | $246.36 | ↓ -43% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | Local Individual Commercial | $259.68 | ↓ -40% |
| Ambetter | CoBranded Commercial | $281.08 | ↓ -35% |
| Ambetter | Individual Commercial | $319.66 | ↓ -26% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $324.21 | ↓ -25% |
| United Healthcare | IEX Commercial | $345.44 | ↓ -20% |
| Aetna | Whole Health HMO | $350.59 | ↓ -18% |
| Cigna | Commercial NB | $372.08 | ↓ -13% |
| Employers Health Network | Commercial | $379.81 | ↓ -12% |
| Aetna | North Carolina Preferred Plus | $399.57 | ↓ -7% |
| MedCost | Ultra | $404.73 | ↓ -6% |
| Physician Reach Out | Plan P | $429.65 | ↑ +0% |
| Aetna | Broad Network | $450.27 | ↑ +5% |
| Cigna | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $460.58 | ↑ +7% |
| United Healthcare | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $489.80 | ↑ +14% |
| Quik Trip | Commercial | $558.55 | ↑ +30% |
| GMMI | Commercial | $558.55 | ↑ +30% |
| MedCost | PPO | $561.98 | ↑ +31% |
| Cigna | Commercial SAR | $580.03 | ↑ +35% |
| ChoiceCare | Commercial | $704.63 | ↑ +64% |
| Aetna First Health | Commercial | $730.41 | ↑ +70% |
| First Health | Commercial | $730.41 | ↑ +70% |
| Beechstreet | Commercial | $773.37 | ↑ +80% |
| Private Health Care Systems | Commercial | $773.37 | ↑ +80% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $816.34 | ↑ +90% |
| Broughton Cardinal Partners | Commercial | not published by hospital | — |
| Physician Reach Out | Plan H | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
MRI brain w/dye at other North-carolina hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atrium Health Anson | Wadesboro | $429.65 | $128.55 – $816.34 |
| Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte | Charlotte | $429.65 | $133.31 – $756.18 |
| Atrium Health Cabarrus | Concord | $429.65 | $105.44 – $816.34 |
| Atrium Health Cleveland | Shelby | $429.65 | $120.30 – $816.34 |
| Atrium Health Mercy | Charlotte | $429.65 | $114.46 – $790.56 |
| Atrium Health Pineville | Charlotte | $429.65 | $85.93 – $790.56 |
| Atrium Health Stanly | Albermarle | $429.65 | $103.12 – $824.93 |
| Atrium Health Union | Monroe | $429.65 | $111.71 – $816.34 |