Brain MRA (blood vessel MRI, with and without contrast) at MUSC Health Chester Medical Center
1 Medical Park Drive, Chester, SC · Muschealth · · NPI 1558937474
$1,702.50
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.
$3,405.00
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.
$337.23 with Bcbs vs $1,809.17 with Bcbs — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bcbs | Medicare Managed Care Plan | $337.23 | ↓ -80% |
| Humana | Medicare Managed Care - Ppo | $342.41 | ↓ -80% |
| Clover Health | Medicare Managed Care Plan | $343.97 | ↓ -80% |
| Aetna | Medicare Managed Care Plan | $345.80 | ↓ -80% |
| Absolute Total Care | Ambetter Exchange | $362.52 | ↓ -79% |
| Molina | Exchange | $370.95 | ↓ -78% |
| Bcbs | Employee | $710.39 | ↓ -58% |
| Bcbs | State Other Commercial Plan | $947.18 | ↓ -44% |
| Bcbs | Blueessentials Exchange | $959.44 | ↓ -44% |
| Bcbs | Bluechoice Exchange | $959.44 | ↓ -44% |
| Bcbs | Lowcountry Blue Exchange | $1,187.84 | ↓ -30% |
| Aetna | All Commercial Plans | $1,274.07 | ↓ -25% |
| Bcbs | Preferred Blue Ppo | $1,646.95 | ↓ -3% |
| Bcbs | Bluechoice Hmo | $1,809.17 | ↑ +6% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Brain MRA (blood vessel MRI, with and without contrast) at other South-carolina hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| HCA HEALTHCARE BRIGHTON PARK ER | MONCKS CORNER | $4,584.00 | $462.50 – $1,865.91 |
| LIVE OAK MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS | Ladson | $4,584.00 | $462.50 – $1,865.91 |
| MUSC Health Kershaw Medical Center | Camden | $1,469.00 | $337.23 – $370.95 |
| St Francis Downtown | Greenville | $4,975.80 | not published |
| St Francis Eastside | Greenville | $4,975.80 | not published |
| MUSC Health Orangeburg Medical Center | Orangeburg | $1,442.00 | $324.48 – $356.93 |
| MUSC Health Main Campus - Charleston | Charleston | $1,442.00 | $324.48 – $534.06 |
| MUSC Health Black River Medical Center | Cades | $1,091.50 | $324.48 – $671.17 |