Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) MRI (with contrast) at St. Luke's Health - Brazosport Hospital
100 Medical Drive, Lake Jackson, TX · CommonSpirit Health · · NPI 1972581940
$5,840.10
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.
$16,686.00
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.
?
The hospital's undiscounted list price — almost no one pays this.
$282.68 with UNITED vs $8,343.00 with Health First — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNITED | Medicaid|All Other Plans | $282.68 | ↓ -95% |
| SUPERIOR | Medicaid|All Plans | $292.95 | ↓ -95% |
| BCBS | Medicaid|All Plans | $292.95 | ↓ -95% |
| CHC | Medicaid|All Other Plans | $292.95 | ↓ -95% |
| CHC | Medicaid|CHIP | $320.31 | ↓ -95% |
| BCBS | Medicare|All Plans | $357.71 | ↓ -94% |
| UNITED | Medicare|All Plans | $357.71 | ↓ -94% |
| KELSEY | Medicare|All Plans | $357.71 | ↓ -94% |
| CIGNA-HEALTHSPRING | Medicare|All Plans | $357.71 | ↓ -94% |
| HUMANA | Medicare|All Plans | $357.71 | ↓ -94% |
| WellcareTP | Medicare|All Plans | $368.44 | ↓ -94% |
| Wellpoint | Medicare|All Plans | $368.44 | ↓ -94% |
| SELECTCARE | Medicare|All Plans | $368.44 | ↓ -94% |
| Community Health Choice | Commercial|Exchange | $375.60 | ↓ -94% |
| UNITED | Medicaid|STAR | $378.79 | ↓ -94% |
| Devoted | Medicare|All Plans | $382.75 | ↓ -93% |
| SCANHealth | Medicare|All Plans | $382.75 | ↓ -93% |
| CHC | Medicaid|STAR | $393.39 | ↓ -93% |
| Ambetter | Commercial|All Plans | $518.68 | ↓ -91% |
| Wellpoint | Commercial|Exchange | $536.57 | ↓ -91% |
| Aetna | Commercial|Exchange | $550.87 | ↓ -91% |
| United | Commercial|Exchange | $554.45 | ↓ -91% |
| Bright Health | Commercial|All Plans | $615.81 | ↓ -89% |
| BCBS-TX | Commercial|Blue Advantage HMO | $660.60 | ↓ -89% |
| Aetna | Commercial|All Other Plans | $764.00 | ↓ -87% |
| United | Commercial|All Other Plans | $846.00 | ↓ -86% |
| UNITED | Medicaid|STARPLUS | $865.00 | ↓ -85% |
| Humana | Commercial|All Plans | $933.05 | ↓ -84% |
| Entrust | Commercial|All Plans | $970.37 | ↓ -83% |
| Wellpoint | Medicaid|All Other Plans | $1,000.00 | ↓ -83% |
| TCHP | Medicaid|All Other Plans | $1,001.16 | ↓ -83% |
| BCBS-TX | Commercial|PPO-POS | $1,176.10 | ↓ -80% |
| BCBS-TX | Commercial|HMO | $1,260.11 | ↓ -78% |
| BCBS-TX | Commercial|Blue Options | $1,332.60 | ↓ -77% |
| Wellpoint | Medicaid|STAR | $1,340.00 | ↓ -77% |
| TCHP | Medicaid|STAR | $1,341.56 | ↓ -77% |
| BCBS-TX | Commercial|PPO | $1,409.03 | ↓ -76% |
| BCBS-TX | Commercial|Traditional | $1,478.64 | ↓ -75% |
| Aetna | Medicare|All Plans | $2,502.90 | ↓ -57% |
| Cigna | Commercial|All Plans | $6,674.40 | ↑ +14% |
| Health First | Commercial|All Plans | $8,343.00 | ↑ +43% |
Visitor-reported prices
Comments
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) MRI (with contrast) at other Texas hospitals
| Hospital | City | Cash price | Negotiated range |
|---|---|---|---|
| BAYLOR UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER | Dallas | $2,181.58 | $279.00 – $2,726.97 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE MEDICAL CENTER - BRENHAM | Brenham | $2,446.79 | $494.01 – $3,670.19 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE MEDICAL CENTER - BUDA | Suite 110 | $2,446.79 | $279.00 – $3,058.49 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE MEDICAL CENTER - CENTENNIAL | Frisco | $2,181.58 | $279.00 – $2,726.97 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE MEDICAL CENTER - COLLEGE STATION | College Station | $2,446.79 | $298.53 – $3,670.19 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE CONTINUING CARE HOSPITAL | Temple | $2,446.79 | $279.00 – $3,670.19 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE EMERGENCY MEDICAL CENTER - CEDAR PARK | Cedar Park | $2,446.79 | $279.00 – $3,670.19 |
| BAYLOR SCOTT & WHITE ALL SAINTS MEDICAL CENTER - FORT WORTH | Fort Worth | $2,181.58 | $279.00 – $2,726.97 |