Has anyone had an mri for the knee lately? It was for the tear in the meniscus. Mine cost $1,880.oo bucks. My insurance only paid $1,100 for it. Did I get hosed because I have insurance? the actual operation was cheaper for me than the mri.
Good grief dude, I’m sorry to say this but is there blood coming out of your ass hole from the ramrod insertion?
I have had 2 MRI’s done in the past 3 years. Paid CASH for both at Tower MRI. MRI with report in hand: $225. I talked them down from $300 the first time for my knee, when I called this spring I said if they will match the price from 2007 I will use them. Bingo.
Heck even the ortho’s office has their own MRI and they only wanted $400.
do you actually have to pay the difference?
most of the time, the biller will accept the amount from your insurer as payment in full.
just ask them.
I have been billed for the difference> but thanks I am going to try and talk to the ass holes again…
I just got an MRI, at a really nice radiology center in Charlotte NC. Thought for sure the bill was going to be outrageous due to the waterfall in the lobby, and plasma tv’s everywhere.
Bill came back at $1050, insurance negotiated to $830. I had to pay 20%, so around $160 out of pocket. In general I’ve found hospitals tend to charge crazy rates, but you have the MRI at a hospital or a independent imaging center?
Oh and Chowbacca where the heck did you getan MRI for $300. I’ve heard around $600 to $1000 is pretty standard.
2 consultations with surgeon.
1 MRI
I arthroscopy (general anaethsetic)
Total cost - €10.
Time from first consultation til end of operation - 3 1/2 days.
Gotta love the German health care system!
2 consultations with surgeon.
1 MRI
I arthroscopy (general anaethsetic)
Total cost - €10.
Time from first consultation til end of operation - 3 1/2 days.
Gotta love the German health care system!
Correction: cost is 10 Euros + 42-45% marginal tax + 19% value added tax. For anyone with a decent income that all add up to one really expensive MRI.
I just got an MRI, at a really nice radiology center in Charlotte NC. Thought for sure the bill was going to be outrageous due to the waterfall in the lobby, and plasma tv’s everywhere.
Bill came back at $1050, insurance negotiated to $830. I had to pay 20%, so around $160 out of pocket. In general I’ve found hospitals tend to charge crazy rates, but you have the MRI at a hospital or a independent imaging center?
Oh and Chowbacca where the heck did you getan MRI for $300. I’ve heard around $600 to $1000 is pretty standard.
Tower MRI in Tampa, FL. And it was $300 quote, but $225 cash. They even use the open tower type so you are not inside that freakin’ tube, standing upright with this one. Remember, that is a CASH price. Another cheap one is Rose Radiology in Tampa. They matched my 2nd price go around, but it was a 3 day wait. If you are not comfortable and willing to get them in a price war with other MRI centers then it will be a ton more. My doc’s office wanted a ton, but I went shopping and that was that.
there are different MRI machines - some higher quality than others. this affects cost as well.
Actually it should not matter the magnet strength. To insurance companies and MRI is an MRI. Hospital setting and outpatient setting generally have different rates for tests and its determined (often times) by local Medicare rates. Sometimes the hospital is cheaper but the insurance companies will demand that you got to an outpatient center (this costs more…go figure). Also if you get a “referral” by your MD that is printed on “whatever imaging center” letterhead it does not mean you have to go to that place. they are only writing you a prescription for the test and cannot tell you or make you go someplace. you can go where you like…Totally illegal to “make you go somewhere”.
I would wait for your EOB as well.
Thats about normal. Here are some figures for you.
Achilles MRI $1600
40 minute outpatient Topaz surgery to achilles $21000 - yes Twentyone thousand
Doctor Fees for surgery and post op visits $4600
Each practice and insurer are different and each study bills at a different rate. You can’t really just ask what other people pay and assume yours will be close. There are several fees that go into each exam, the professional fee (what the MD gets for reading the study and the technical fee for the study (a brain scan will be more than an ankle, a functional MRI more than a static) that fee is set by the hospital/imaging center and the insurer. It’s a negotiated rate per each kind of case, so a big conglomerate hospital system will have more leverage with insurers than a small hospital, etc. That fee is used to pay for the operational and capital expense of the magnet (which is why a 3T magnet will have more expensive scans, it’s more expensive for the hospital to own and operate) and overhead costs of the department (from staff to electricity) .
All that being said, you can try to negotiate your bill. Ask for the breakdown in costs if you don’t have it already and see if they are willing to help you. Good luck.
“Correction: cost is 10 Euros + 42-45% marginal tax + 19% value added tax. For anyone with a decent income that all add up to one really expensive MRI.”
I am impressed that no one has taken the bait and highjacked this into a political/tax policy/health care discussion.
I live in NH / within 5 miles of a major medical center – recent MRI there cost $1000; I had another MRI as well at a nearby rural clinic (where my foot doc practices) – they use a an MRI trailer setup that travels throughout the region – same price… plus or minus a few bucks.
I paid $750 at a private clinic in Quebec, Canada.
I was quoted $525 in Northern NY State.
“Correction: cost is 10 Euros + 42-45% marginal tax + 19% value added tax. For anyone with a decent income that all add up to one really expensive MRI.”
I am impressed that no one has taken the bait and highjacked this into a political/tax policy/health care discussion.
If this was a slightly bike related question, you bet your ass it would turn into an argument between Andrew Coggan and Frank Day about Powercranks.
3 MRIs, 4 X-rays, 1 lot of X-ray contrast fluid, 1 lot of MRI contrast fluid and the team that put it in my shoulder, 2 consultants, 2 physios, 1 shoulder surgery and an overnight stay. Cost = £0. Though to be fair I’ve been paying all my working life though tax and national insurance to the government! Britain and the NHS. Only problem is that it took 6 months from initial consultation to surgery.
That was the great thing about my knee surgery in Germany.
Compared to the UK, the time between my inital consultation and the op was so fast. No waiting around at all.
Obviously I (and my employer) pay a lot for my health care but the turnaround speed was incredible - and I am with a standard Krankenkasse i.e. public healthcare provider. No special private insurance perks.
It helped that my surgeon (Dr Martin Frommel) in Frankfurt is particularly hard working, and does a load of operations.
End of the day - my knee was sorted, at minimal expense to me, in very little time. Hope the OP has a similar result.
I’d say that’s not an unusual price. But mind you, my insurance always covers 100%. I see the amount on my EOB.
Sometimes, if you are paying cash, you get a cheaper rate.
it must depend on where you live?? I had an MRI of the brain a few months back. It was $2,000.00 , but my insurance paid the entire amout - my $15 co-pay