healthcosts.net
Lower Back (Lumbar Spine) MRI (without contrast) at UnityPoint Health - Meriter Hospital
202 South Park Street, Madison, WI · UnityPoint Health · · NPI 1114920048
$2,118.84
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.
$2,648.54
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.
$65.34 with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield vs $2,516.11 with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Medicare Advantage | $65.34 | ↓ -97% |
| Aspirus | Medicare Advantage | $65.34 | ↓ -97% |
| IlliniCare | Medicare Advantage | $65.34 | ↓ -97% |
| Prevea 360 | Medicare Advantage | $65.34 | ↓ -97% |
| United Healthcare | Medicare Advantage | $65.34 | ↓ -97% |
| Humana | Medicare Advantage | $68.61 | ↓ -97% |
| MeridianCare | Medicare Advantage | $68.61 | ↓ -97% |
| Health Partners Open Network | Commercial | $142.62 | ↓ -93% |
| United Healthcare | Commercial | $167.10 | ↓ -92% |
| Medical Associates Health Plan | HMO/POS/PPO | $216.28 | ↓ -90% |
| Aspirus | PPO | $609.16 | ↓ -71% |
| Cigna | Commercial | $794.56 | ↓ -63% |
| Security Health Plan | HMO/POS/SAS | $821.05 | ↓ -61% |
| Quartz | HMO | $826.34 | ↓ -61% |
| Mercy Care | HMO/POS | $879.32 | ↓ -58% |
| Aspirus | HMO/POS | $953.47 | ↓ -55% |
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Blue Priority/Pathway | $1,121.39 | ↓ -47% |
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | HMO/POS | $1,376.18 | ↓ -35% |
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | PPO | $1,529.00 | ↓ -28% |
| Wellmark UPH Self-Funded | Commercial | $1,529.00 | ↓ -28% |
| Prevea 360 | Commercial | $2,251.26 | ↑ +6% |
| Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield | Traditional | $2,516.11 | ↑ +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 | — |