healthcosts.net
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) X-ray at Atrium Health Union
600 Hospital Dr, Monroe, NC · Atrium Health · · NPI 1396790325
$278.40
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.
?
What you pay up front if you don't use insurance.
$556.80
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.
?
The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.
$9.08 with Trillium vs $528.96 with Multiplan — same scan, same building. Share
Negotiated rates by payer
?
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 →
?
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trillium | Managed Medicaid | $9.08 | ↓ -97% |
| United Healthcare | Managed Medicaid | $9.17 | ↓ -97% |
| Wellcare | Managed Medicaid | $9.17 | ↓ -97% |
| Partners | Managed Medicaid | $9.17 | ↓ -97% |
| Healthy Blue | Managed Medicaid | $9.17 | ↓ -97% |
| Vaya | Managed Medicaid | $9.17 | ↓ -97% |
| Amerihealth Caritas | Managed Medicaid | $9.17 | ↓ -97% |
| Carolina Complete Health | Managed Medicaid | $9.17 | ↓ -97% |
| Alliance | Managed Medicaid | $9.26 | ↓ -97% |
| Cigna Healthspring | Medicare Advantage | $10.03 | ↓ -96% |
| Humana | Medicare Advantage | $10.23 | ↓ -96% |
| Aetna | Medicare Advantage | $10.38 | ↓ -96% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Advantage | $10.41 | ↓ -96% |
| Ortho Carolina | Commercial | $12.54 | ↓ -95% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $26.88 | ↓ -90% |
| Aetna | Whole Health HMO | $51.95 | ↓ -81% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | Local Group Commercial | $52.54 | ↓ -81% |
| Aetna | North Carolina Preferred Plus Commercial | $54.63 | ↓ -80% |
| ChoiceCare | Commercial | $55.51 | ↓ -80% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina | Local Individual Commercial | $55.51 | ↓ -80% |
| United Healthcare | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $59.60 | ↓ -79% |
| Aetna | Broad Network | $60.26 | ↓ -78% |
| MedCost | Ultra | $61.01 | ↓ -78% |
| MedCost | PPO | $61.01 | ↓ -78% |
| United Healthcare | IEX Commercial | $63.63 | ↓ -77% |
| Alliance | Behavioral Health | $86.14 | ↓ -69% |
| Aetna First Health | Commercial | $86.28 | ↓ -69% |
| Aetna | Connected North Carolina Individual HMO | $147.55 | ↓ -47% |
| Ambetter | CoBranded Commercial | $165.98 | ↓ -40% |
| Ambetter | Individual Commercial | $202.12 | ↓ -27% |
| Cigna | Commercial NB | $241.09 | ↓ -13% |
| Employers Health Network | Commercial | $246.11 | ↓ -12% |
| Cigna | HMO-PPO Managed Care | $288.42 | ↑ +4% |
| Magellan | Behavioral Health | $334.08 | ↑ +20% |
| Quik Trip | Commercial | $361.92 | ↑ +30% |
| GMMI | Commercial | $361.92 | ↑ +30% |
| Cigna | Commercial SAR | $375.84 | ↑ +35% |
| Healthgram | Commercial | $445.44 | ↑ +60% |
| First Health | Commercial | $473.28 | ↑ +70% |
| Beechstreet | Commercial | $501.12 | ↑ +80% |
| Provider Select | Commercial | $501.12 | ↑ +80% |
| Private Health Care Systems | Commercial | $501.12 | ↑ +80% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $528.96 | ↑ +90% |
| Broughton Cardinal Partners | Commercial | not published by hospital | — |
| Physician Reach Out | Plan P | not published by hospital | — |
| Physician Reach Out | Plan H | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) X-ray at other North-carolina hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atrium Health Anson | Wadesboro | $278.40 | $9.08 – $528.96 |
| Atrium Health Behavioral Health Charlotte | Charlotte | $278.40 | $9.17 – $489.98 |
| Atrium Health Cleveland | Shelby | $278.40 | $9.08 – $528.96 |
| Atrium Health Cabarrus | Concord | $278.40 | $9.08 – $528.96 |
| Atrium Health Lincoln | Lincolnton | $278.40 | $9.08 – $528.96 |
| Atrium Health Mercy | Charlotte | $278.40 | $9.08 – $512.26 |
| Atrium Health Pineville | Charlotte | $278.40 | $9.08 – $512.26 |
| Atrium Health Stanly | Albermarle | $278.40 | $9.08 – $534.53 |