healthcosts.net
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) CT scan (with contrast) at UnityPoint Health - Meriter Hospital
202 South Park Street, Madison, WI · UnityPoint Health · · NPI 1114920048
$4,905.25
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.
$6,131.56
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.
$53.62 with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield vs $5,824.98 with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Medicare Advantage | $53.62 | ↓ -99% |
| Aspirus | Medicare Advantage | $53.62 | ↓ -99% |
| IlliniCare | Medicare Advantage | $53.62 | ↓ -99% |
| Prevea 360 | Medicare Advantage | $53.62 | ↓ -99% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Advantage | $53.62 | ↓ -99% |
| Humana | Medicare Advantage | $56.30 | ↓ -99% |
| MeridianCare | Medicare Advantage | $56.30 | ↓ -99% |
| Health Partners Open Network | Commercial | $118.28 | ↓ -98% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $137.32 | ↓ -97% |
| Medical Associates Health Plan | HMO/POS/PPO | $177.48 | ↓ -96% |
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Blue Priority/Pathway | $657.00 | ↓ -87% |
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | HMO/POS | $733.00 | ↓ -85% |
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | PPO | $1,098.00 | ↓ -78% |
| Wellmark UPH Self-Funded | Commercial | $1,098.00 | ↓ -78% |
| Aspirus | PPO | $1,410.26 | ↓ -71% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $1,839.47 | ↓ -62% |
| Security Health Plan | HMO/POS/SAS | $1,900.78 | ↓ -61% |
| Quartz | HMO | $1,913.05 | ↓ -61% |
| Mercy Care | HMO/POS | $2,035.68 | ↓ -58% |
| Aspirus | HMO/POS | $2,207.36 | ↓ -55% |
| Prevea 360 | Commercial | $5,211.83 | ↑ +6% |
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Traditional | $5,824.98 | ↑ +19% |
| United Healthcare | Managed Medicaid | not published by hospital | — |
| My Choice | Managed Medicaid | not published by hospital | — |
| GHC - South Central WI | Managed Medicaid | not published by hospital | — |
| GHC - Eau Claire | Managed Medicaid | not published by hospital | — |
| GHC | HMO | not published by hospital | — |
| Dean Health Plan | Managed Medicaid | not published by hospital | — |
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Managed Medicaid | not published by hospital | — |