healthcosts.net
Esophagoscopy retro balloon at UPMC Presbyterian
200 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA · UPMC · · NPI 119473412
$5,386.80
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.
$8,978.00
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.
$736.75 with Highmark BCBS of PA vs $7,631.30 with InterGroup — 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 BCBS of PA | Medicare Advantage | $736.75 | ↓ -86% |
| United Healthcare Community Plan for Families | PA CHIP/PA Medicaid | $931.20 | ↓ -83% |
| Aetna | CHIP/Medicaid | $1,616.04 | ↓ -70% |
| UPMC Work Partners | Workers Comp | $1,887.67 | ↓ -65% |
| AmeriHealth Caritas | Medicare | $1,953.23 | ↓ -64% |
| Cigna Lifesource | Medicare Transplant | $1,953.23 | ↓ -64% |
| Highmark Wholecare (prev Gateway) | Medicare | $1,953.23 | ↓ -64% |
| PA Health & Wellness | Allwell Medicare Advantage DSNP/Medicare Advantage (Allwell by Wellcare) | $1,953.23 | ↓ -64% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare | $1,953.23 | ↓ -64% |
| Aetna | Medicare | $1,989.40 | ↓ -63% |
| Aetna of PA | Medicare | $1,989.40 | ↓ -63% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care - Social Mission | $2,160.34 | ↓ -60% |
| Multiplan | Worker's Compensation | $2,194.96 | ↓ -59% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Managed Care | $2,892.98 | ↓ -46% |
| UPMC Health Plan | Commercial | $4,209.78 | ↓ -22% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Social Mission Indemnity | $4,436.79 | ↓ -18% |
| Geisinger | Medicaid/CHIP | $4,937.90 | ↓ -8% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | UPMC Emergent | $5,785.96 | ↑ +7% |
| Preferred Healthcare System | PPO | $5,835.70 | ↑ +8% |
| Highmark BCBS of PA | Commercial - Indemnity | $5,941.82 | ↑ +10% |
| Coventry/First Health | Commercial | $6,284.60 | ↑ +17% |
| Fidelis | Medicare | $6,733.50 | ↑ +25% |
| InterGroup | InterGroup Services Corporation | $6,733.50 | ↑ +25% |
| Health Coalition Partners | Intergroup | $7,182.40 | ↑ +33% |
| Multiplan | PPO | $7,182.40 | ↑ +33% |
| Private Health Care Systems | PPO | $7,182.40 | ↑ +33% |
| SelectCare | Commercial | $7,182.40 | ↑ +33% |
| Health Payors Organization | Commercial | $7,631.30 | ↑ +42% |
| Humana | Commercial | $7,631.30 | ↑ +42% |
| InterGroup | Approved National Affiliated PPO Business | $7,631.30 | ↑ +42% |
| US Family Health Plan | Tricare Prime | not published by hospital | — |
| Tricare | East Region | not published by hospital | — |