Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at Sanford Aberdeen Medical Center
2905 3rd Ave SE, Aberdeen, SD · Sanford Health · · NPI 1235406455
$80.00
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.
$100.00
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.
$4.16 with Sanford Health Plan Align vs $69.57 with Medica — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford Health Plan Align | Medicare Replacement | $4.16 | ↓ -95% |
| Ucare | Medicare Replacement | $4.47 | ↓ -94% |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| Aetna | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| Great Plains Medicare Advantage | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| Health Partners | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Replacement | $4.51 | ↓ -94% |
| Primewest | Medicare Replacement | $4.60 | ↓ -94% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange True | $33.57 | ↓ -58% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Group Health/True | $38.28 | ↓ -52% |
| Sanford Health Plan | SD Exchange Commercial | $39.49 | ↓ -51% |
| Security Health Plan | Commercial | $41.64 | ↓ -48% |
| Health Partners | State Employees | $41.94 | ↓ -48% |
| Sanford Health Plan | Commercial | $45.03 | ↓ -44% |
| Health Partners | Commercial | $47.69 | ↓ -40% |
| Ucare | Commercial | $59.12 | ↓ -26% |
| Aetna | Commercial | $62.07 | ↓ -22% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial + Top 20 | $63.21 | ↓ -21% |
| Medica | Choice | $65.03 | ↓ -19% |
| Healthez | Commercial | $68.13 | ↓ -15% |
| Multiplan | Commercial | $68.13 | ↓ -15% |
| First Choice Health Network | Commercial | $68.13 | ↓ -15% |
| Medica | Elect | $69.57 | ↓ -13% |
| Wellmark | HMO | not published by hospital | — |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota | Commercial | not published by hospital | — |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Sterile water/saline, 500 ml at other South-dakota hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanford Vermillion Hospital | Vermillion | $1.40 | $0.52 – $1.58 |
| Sanford USD Medical Center | Sioux Falls | not published | $1.00 – $4.60 |