$1900 a piece! One with and one without contrast.
After meeting the entire deductible in one day - I'm 1/3 of the way to meeting her individual out of pocket maximum for the year. I bet I hit it in the next two weeks. :(
I can't imagine having to pay for this stuff w/out insurance - paying for it with insurance is killing me.
I nearly E36 M3 myself when they said I needed to cough up $532 today.
My mom just had one done.. she is having an ear problem that is making her dizzy.. I almost choked when I heard how much they cost
Yeah. 15 years ago they were one large. I guess all this technology stuff gets more expensive over time, huh? I mean, the machine probably isn't paid for yet, right? Magnets need so much maintenance.
MRI's are a wonderful tool, but given the costs to the system, they really only need to be done in rare circumstances, and mostly prior to a surgery. I've heard people say "Oh, she has back pain. She needs a MRI." Uh, no. Not unless she is getting worked up for a whack. But, given the LAWYERS standing around wanting to sue the physician, the physician wants to order a MRI to show that he/she did look for something and also push the responsibility off to a radiologist for the diagnosis. "Look, the radiologist didn't find that, so go sue them." Welcome to American Healthcare.
Oh, and a 10 million dollar MRI spectrometer could be built for a few hundred thousand with the exact same pieces if it wasn't for various barriers to entry.
$600
http://www.smartchoicemri.com/about-smart-choice-mri/smart-choice-history
Doesn't seem that crazy to me. I'm dumbfounded when people will spend $500 on car repairs...or $500 on half a month's rent...or $500 on whatever without complaining, but god forbid a professional who spent 8 years of their life going to an expensive ass school and working crazy ass shifts doing residency should make a few bucks off the capability of their (brown data - million dollar???) machine in an attempt to keep you ALIVE.
I will never understand it. PS: Cash price in Atlanta is $500 all-in by the way. I have buddy who does downhill bikes and has no insurance. Things get exponentially more expensive when you introduce a third-party into a "buyer and seller" transaction.
Yep, thank heavens for my health insurance. In the past 3 months, I've had...x-rays, ultrasound imaging, MRI w/out contrast, MRI w/contrast. All to try to find a problem with my hip, which we still haven't found. I can't imagine what the bill has been to date.
MRI's here... "free".
Actually, we have a clinic in Red Deer that charges for them (private company) because the public system is so backed up. Even then, it's not bad, I think our benefit's package covers the cost.
I honestly don't understand how you have coverage and had to pay $532 out of pocket... that just don't make sense.
MRIs range from about $400 to around $3,500. Insurance usually pays about 50% of what's billed, less copays and deductibles. Things can really start to get expensive if you actually need treatment for something.
HiTempguy wrote: MRI's here... "free".
Deductible.
Yeah. I am going in Monday to have an MRI of my hip. I am already about $10000 out of pocket for this accident until the insurance company settles it. And that's WITH insurance. 
What's another couple thou?
HiTempguy wrote: I honestly don't understand how you have coverage and had to pay $532 out of pocket... that just don't make sense.
That's why so many are fed up with the system here.
z31maniac wrote:HiTempguy wrote: I honestly don't understand how you have coverage and had to pay $532 out of pocket... that just don't make sense.That's why so many are fed up with the system here.
Wait. There's actually a system here???
z31maniac wrote:HiTempguy wrote: I honestly don't understand how you have coverage and had to pay $532 out of pocket... that just don't make sense.That's why so many are fed up with the system here.
Well, that's not the whole story. OP had to pay $532 out of pocket, but there was thousands of dollars "total charge." I'll bet anything $3800 was not the only charges that came out of that visit. $3800 was probably JUST for the MRI procedure itself, and was likely only the facility side of it. Doubtful that the professional billing was included.
It's not a whole lot different from your deductible when you get in a fender bender.
HiTempguy wrote: I honestly don't understand how you have coverage and had to pay $532 out of pocket... that just don't make sense.
Cost shifting - although many 'mericuns have employer-paid health plans, employees often get to share a portion of the monthly premium, pay down a deductible and split the cost of the care to some out of pocket maximum.
I heard a radio segment once about MRIs in Japan. Supposedly they cost about $150 there - not the patient portion or co-pay, the entire cost.
And after all that, lots of hospitals are thrilled when they make a 2% profit margin.
Not all MRIs cost the same, it's worth pointing out. The machines are getting more powerful, can do a scan faster, and offer much higher resolution. They cost more as a result. Then you factor in the infrastructure around them, the data analysis behind each scan and the fact that you literally need to construct buildings around them. It adds up. What's particularly stupid is that you rarely need the big fancy ones for routine things, but every hospital wants to brag about their 3T MRIs.
And then you factor in the fact that many places you can't just go out and buy an MRI scanner, you need to go through a regulatory process and prove to the state that your area is underserved. The idea is to keep cost down by making sure capacity matches demand. But of course that means you make and sell fewer machines, which lets manufacturers charge basically whatever they want.
There are lots of different models for healthcare systems out there that we could pick and choose from, and we pick THIS. It's insane.
The insurance company won't be paying that much for it, that's for sure. That's only what you would get screwed out of if you didn't have insurance. You know, if you were the most vulnerable to financial strain due to medical costs? That's when you pay the most for those medical costs. Makes sense, right?
The insurance company will probably pay the hospital around $500 to $800 per MRI. Minus what you paid.
You knew it was comin'.
I'm kidding. Everyone here is playing nice!
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:z31maniac wrote:Well, that's not the whole story. OP had to pay $532 out of pocket, but there was thousands of dollars "total charge." I'll bet anything $3800 was not the only charges that came out of that visit. $3800 was probably JUST for the MRI procedure itself, and was likely only the facility side of it. Doubtful that the professional billing was included. It's not a whole lot different from your deductible when you get in a fender bender.HiTempguy wrote: I honestly don't understand how you have coverage and had to pay $532 out of pocket... that just don't make sense.That's why so many are fed up with the system here.
Mr Celica is correct. This was only the MRI itself. While I'm glad I have a job that provides insurance coverage for me - at a very reasonable cost and I know the equipment is incredibly expensive I was shocked at the billed cost.
She had 2 MRIs done - it took about 2 hours total. She has a "big ass berkeleying cyst" in her abdomen and will be getting it surgically removed in the next 2 weeks. They are saying it is the size of a cantaloupe.
Xceler8x wrote: You knew it was comin'.
Fat, Drunk and Stupid is no way to go through life, Son.
m4ff3w wrote:92CelicaHalfTrac wrote:Mr Celica is correct. This was only the MRI itself. While I'm glad I have a job that provides insurance coverage for me - at a very reasonable cost and I know the equipment is incredibly expensive I was shocked at the billed cost. She had 2 MRIs done - it took about 2 hours total. She has a "big ass berkeleying cyst" in her abdomen and will be getting it surgically removed in the next 2 weeks. They are saying it is the size of a cantaloupe.z31maniac wrote:Well, that's not the whole story. OP had to pay $532 out of pocket, but there was thousands of dollars "total charge." I'll bet anything $3800 was not the only charges that came out of that visit. $3800 was probably JUST for the MRI procedure itself, and was likely only the facility side of it. Doubtful that the professional billing was included. It's not a whole lot different from your deductible when you get in a fender bender.HiTempguy wrote: I honestly don't understand how you have coverage and had to pay $532 out of pocket... that just don't make sense.That's why so many are fed up with the system here.
Ouch.
Hope all goes well!
The one thing that this sort of insurance does though, is make it "easy" to plan a yearly budget for medical expenses if you're on the pessimist side of things. Plan to have to pay the entire out of pocket and you'll be fine. Once that out of pocket max is hit, everything covered at 100%.
M4ff3w, do you have an HSA/HRA option through your work?
92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Ouch.
Yes. Unfortunately we already blew through it with previous co-pays and dental work on my wife and myself.
Next year my HSA funding is going up quite a bit.
m4ff3w wrote:92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: Ouch.Yes. Unfortunately we already blew through it with previous co-pays and dental work on my wife and myself. Next year my HSA funding is going up quite a bit.
Good man. RE: Canexican healthcare - $100 bottles of whiskey are a deal breaker for me.
I love the "This is not a Bill" statements I'll get in the mail. The 'charged' amount is usually something insane - say $2000 for something. Then some time later, you get a statement from the insurance saying how much they're paying and what your responsibility will (or won't) be, the total typically less than 50% of the previous letter amount. Then you get a bill from the Dr. for that amount. I'm convinced it's some sort of tax shame.
My deductible is $2000/year (also in a HDHP/HSA plan). I max out my HSA contribution. Since it comes out pre-tax, it's not use-or-lose (like a FSA) and you keep it indefinitely I just consider it like another retirement account.
You'll need to log in to post.
