My hospital bill for a single MRI scan in the US
Wednesday, 12 Mar 2025
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Not an expert but FYI it’s a totally made up number. If you have insurance you should see it marked down to something sane if it’s covered. If not I would look up how to negotiate and what the actual going rate is.
It’s insane. They just make up those prices. An MRI in Germany costs ~1000€ for the whole body. Just your knee is around 250€.
Of course you don’t pay a single cent yourself..
Edit:this blew up, I try to answer but gimme time
Edit2: yes, I already learned this is not the real price! You don’t need to tell me anymore
About to start pulling up like this
MRI scan abdomen Europe (standard high resolution series + dwi), paid approximately 300USD. Radiologist report included.
No insurance, no government support. Private radiology facility. That’s how much your invoice should have been.
Evil shit
i wonder what the ROI on these MRI machine.
Madness.
I’ve just Googled to see what a privately paid for MRI scan in London, UK would would cost… £275.
USA is not a country. Its a company.
Name the hospital.
The average cost of MRI/MRT (they are the same thing) should be $300 (on the low end) – $2,000 (on the high end).
This smells of something fishy.
If I were you, here’s what I would do:
– Request an itemized breakdown of the MRI charges. This can help identify whether there are errors or unnecessary fees. If this is a single line item, I’d proceed to next steps.
– Contact my insurance as a first line of defense. File a claim if necessary, detailing that you just want to know why an MRI would cost $17k. It’s typical for hospitals to bill something high, and insurance will say “we’re paying X” and there’s an agreement that’s made. But, they’re trying to bill 9x what the average MRI costs.
– Even if my insurance handles it, I’d still contact the Department of Health or Insurance Commissioner for your state. That will trigger an investigation and put pressure on them to prove why they’re charging $17k for an MRI.
I’m disgusted that we have to deal with this.
EDIT: I see a lot of people in comments talking about Europe prices (Germany/UK) and the average there is $300 USD. The point is, the “high” range would be $2,000 USD. Charging $17k is 9x the highest average in the US. This isn’t about “America vs Europe prices”, it’s about a single hospital trying to price gauge the ever living fuck out of this person. They should be reported and investigated. This is not normal.
EDIT2: For people saying “this is normal” NO it’s not. Even on Vanderbilt’s own website it states without insurance for a Brain MRI is only $1k ( see:
) ) and [https://myhealthatvanderbilt.com/MyChartPRD/guestestimates](https://myhealthatvanderbilt.com/MyChartPRD/guestestimates) to run this yourself. Also see: [https://www.vumc.org/pricetransparency](https://www.vumc.org/pricetransparency) . Someone is lying or fucking up.
How much did you pay out of pocket? I assume you have heath insurance and that plan has a maximum out of pocket.
Bet it doesn’t cover doctor/radiologist fees, either
Looks like you are paying for a good chunk of that machine
18k jesus how many pokemon packs did u scan?
Perhaps Luigi was on to something
Costs the clinic $1000. They bill insurance $18,000. Insurance pays them $8,000 and the clinic writes off a $10,000 loss as a business. That’s the whole playbook for the insurance scam right there.
Just to put things in perspective…my sister went for MRI of her knee 5 yrs back at a pvt. facility in India (COST: 65 usd, incl. hard copy of scans and radiologist’s report)
Took my father for a brain MRI at one of Indian govt.’s subsidised hospitals (AIIMS) in 2024, (COST: 18 usd, incl. a dvd of the scans and radiologist’s report)
I don’t see how people from America can be so proud to live there. I’m not even trying to be a dick it’s just perplexing
And they wonder why the thing that happened happened.
As someone who is generally healthy and has top tier insurance coverage (thanks union), I give the US healthcare system more of a break than I should.
But this is absolutely insane. Who can defend this? How did we get here? Most importantly, *who the fuck is ok with this?*
Imagine living with this crap.
more like MRI scam amirite
… but what will you actually pay out of pocket?
TBF, this looks like an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from your insurance or a description of charges to your insurance from the facility who performed the MRI. It’s hard to say for sure because this is only a select part of the document.
If so, you personally are not being billed for this amount. This is how much the facility billed your insurance and they have no notion whatsoever that they are actually going to receive anything even close to that amount. Your insurance is simply going to pay them whatever amount they generally reimburse for this service no matter how much is billed. Additionally, the contract the facility has with your insurance precludes them from billing you for the balance.
Your financial exposure is limited to your annual deductible and whatever copayments and shares of cost your individual plan has.
Why this is so insanely complex, is a whoooooooole ‘nother question.
One of the reasons that studies consistently show that Medicare For All would actually save money over the long term and starting in Year One is that about 30% of current costs are in billing procedures just like this.
Gosh, in my country this is free and routinary
I’m a physician and I just tell my patients to pay cash for an MRI now a days they cost $250 at any out patient imaging center (not at a hospital). It sucks and the system is terrible but it’s usually less of a burden on them this way.
Also never get images done at a hospital. Ever. It’s a rip off.
My wife got an mri this year. It cost €3 for parking at the hospital.
What did you actually pay OP?Â
Curious minds want to know.Â
Are you buying the machine with each MRI ?
>Pharmacy: **$469.22**
I presume they prescribed one post-scan advil?
Healthcare here in the U.S is a joke. Honestly, most things here in the U.S are a joke.
How much is insurance covering?
At least it wasn’t in the er. You would’ve gotten separate bills for doctor, tech, etc.
My gallbladder removal + 3 nights in hospital = $64k without insurance.
Got me feeling like Mangione
Yikes. We need laws demanding that care providers must either provide price transparency in advance or meet a standard rate cap, maybe 2-3x whatever the Medicare pay rate is or something.
And this bill is very expensive by US standards. Google shows a number of companies offering full body preventative MRI scans for $1000-3000. Of course if you’re doing some exotic contrast sequence it would be different and likely cost a lot more.
Meanwhile in the UK my 78 year old dad had a heart attack at 4am on Tuesday. Had xray, MRI, transferred to a specialist heart hospital in a nearby city by ambulance.
Had a blockage cleared, stent fitted, fed, monitored and hopefully will be discharged tomorrow.
Cost to him. £0
Cost to me. £Petrol to the hospital.
No wonder America is behind that guy…
My brother and sister in law went to university in the States as international students. Her medical insurance was more than his tuition. It’s outrageous.
We should have a friendly chat with their CEO
0$ in Denmark
These posts are so misleading it’s unreal. US healthcare is busted, but nobody pays 18k for an MRI ever.
Locally a place does mri for cash paying customers. My ins said my copay would be 1800.00 for dr recommended place in the same facility. I called Midwest MRI and paid 400.00 even. No insurance. Just debit payment.
Damn! Even with insurance, I paid $1450 for just my shoulder.
In Brazil there is public health these two exams you could do free
Just paid £150 privately for a mri on my ankle here in the uk.
Urgent care sent me to the ER thinking I had appendicitis (I did not). CT scan, ekg, talked to a doctor for a few min. Hospital billed my insurance $15k. Insurance got that down to like $4k, and my responsibility was maybe $200.