Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at UPMC Muncy
215 East Water Street, Muncy, PA · UPMC · · NPI 1609816198
$3.60
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.
$6.00
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.
$0.60 with Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) vs $3.80 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $0.60 | ↓ -83% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Managed Medicare | $0.60 | ↓ -83% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $0.62 | ↓ -83% |
| Cigna | Medicare | $0.63 | ↓ -83% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $0.64 | ↓ -82% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $0.65 | ↓ -82% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $1.11 | ↓ -69% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Bluecare HMO/FPLIC PPO/Traditional Products | $1.57 | ↓ -56% |
| Aetna | PEBTF Custom Network | $1.62 | ↓ -55% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $1.74 | ↓ -52% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $1.85 | ↓ -49% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $1.91 | ↓ -47% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $2.00 | ↓ -44% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Community Health Choices/PA Medicaid HMO | $2.20 | ↓ -39% |
| Wirerope Works | Commercial | $2.22 | ↓ -38% |
| Aetna | First Health | $2.64 | ↓ -27% |
| Geisinger | Commercial | $2.68 | ↓ -26% |
| Coventry/First Health | FH-Medical Rental | $2.69 | ↓ -25% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $2.74 | ↓ -24% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $2.74 | ↓ -24% |
| Multiplan | PPO (Includes PHCS as a Payer) | $3.12 | ↓ -13% |
| Multiplan | Auto | $3.12 | ↓ -13% |
| America's Choice | PPO | $3.20 | ↓ -11% |
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA Medicaid | $3.20 | ↓ -11% |
| InterGroup | PPO | $3.20 | ↓ -11% |
| Three Rivers Provider Network | All | $3.60 | ↑ +0% |
| Multiplan | Worker's Compensation | $3.80 | ↑ +6% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at other Pennsylvania hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| UPMC Altoona | Altoona | $13.20 | $2.23 – $17.53 |
| UPMC East | Monroeville | $39.60 | $3.95 – $26.40 |
| UPMC Hamot | Erie | $70.80 | $4.46 – $4.46 |
| UPMC Northwest | Seneca | $24.00 | $21.21 – $21.21 |
| UPMC Horizon-Greenville | Greenville | $25.20 | $17.53 – $17.53 |
| UPMC Jameson | New Castle | $7.80 | $2.69 – $17.53 |
| UPMC Kane | Kane | $13.20 | $12.91 – $18.00 |
| UPMC Magee | Pittsburgh | $61.20 | $2.96 – $17.53 |