astronomical cost of brain mri

[someqs17]

hi all,

i am at a complete loss right now and think yall would know the most about this. i went for my second brain mri a couple months ago for ms symptoms and i just got the bill. i had it done on a 3t machine at a hospital. the cost before insurance was $10,000. thats right, $10,000. with my insurance i owe $1,828.

now, i had a brain mri done at an mri place a year ago on a 1t machine and the cost before insurance was $1,400 and i paid $300.

i called my insurance and they cant help...they said id need to check w the hospital on the cost. how could this be soooo much money!?????? it seems complelteyl insane.

would love to hear what u all think

could this be? could 3t cost like 10x a regular machine? this seems unbelievable to me and im hoping its a mistake but i tend not to think so. meanwhile i had a lumbar puncture whixh was only 3k before insurance.

[someqs17]

And to Pastordan-- Yeah, even the highest in your range is half of what this hospital charged me. Seems like some kind of crazy ripoff!

[someqs17]

I called the hospital this morning and they said they match their prices to other hospitals in the area. This is Philly.

I gave them a huge sob story and told them I can't afford it, and I know what these thigns cost and it's ridiculous, and they said they could offer ME paying $1500 vs $1800. I kept pushing saying that i could afford $1K and they came back again and said $1400. I continued to push and now a supervisor is going to call me. This is like buying a car!!

[LilMinnie]

Alex covered it well. My daughter, who works for a large hospital as a mediator between the patient, hospital, and insurance companies told me the same thing.

It is kind of like buying a new car. No one ever pays the same price and you can't get a straight answer if you just walk in and say, "How much is this car?"

I, too, am paying off tests and the only other one I may have done is the LP. Other than that, if I don't get a diagnosis (the pieces are slowly falling into place) then I believe I will be done for a while until my next flare hits. In the meantime I will see if I can get treatment for the symptoms.

Best to you, I know how stressful it is.

Hugs, Minnie :)

[HVAC]

Usually the formula with MRIs and insurance is the patient pays a third of the cost. This is from my meetings as a health advocate with the National MS Society. You can shop around for MRIs. For example a MRI at a free standing radiology practice is way less than a hospital. The insurance is not paying half of what the hospital is charging if your policy is a PPO. I stopped getting MRIs because of the cost and my neurologist can tell more about my neurological damage from my neurological exams. My Doctors knew I had brain stem damage in 1965 and the MRI did not exist. I am in the biggest group plan in the State with the Largest insurer, it is a PPO. I pay that much for a 1T so I do not get them.

I have to have CT Scans for Cancer all the time and they are that much out of pocket. I have refused breast MRIs because they are wildly expensive and the doctors do not really understand what they are seeing. My Doctor saw something on my CT Scan for cancer and does not know what it is. These are expensive tools nothing more. I think of a MRI as an expensive shadow puppet machine. They do not see the brain they see the shadows and interpret those shadows.

It would be nice if we were told upfront what things cost medically. I owe up to ten thousand I do not have on my cancer. The only arrangement I could make on my MRI is to divide payments over a year. It get 36 months with my CT Scans because my bill is so high. If I make a payment a day late I owe the bill in full.

The secret is we with private insurance are paying more because hospitals are losing money on MRIs for Medicare patients because the government tells hospitals what they can charge for these tests under Medicare  and Medicaid. Hospitals make it up on the co pays from privately insured individuals. It is cost shifting. You sign a paper when you are treated saying you agree to pay anything your insurance will not. Unfortunately it is perfectly legal. The hospital has the law on its side.

Hospitals and Doctors can't tell you what anything costs because they make up the costs according to each person's insurance plan. Your insurance does not even know what your co pay will be most of the time. I always call the hospital and insurance ahead and ask how much something will cost, usually I can't get an answer.

I have three diseases to pay for Ovarian Cancer, Breast Cancer, and MS. I turn down a lot of tests. I have turned down a half a dozen MRIs in the last year because I can't afford them. I have to choose which I can afford to treat aggressively I can't do all three. I do not have enough Credit to make that many payments and I do not have any savings and we barely live pay day to pay day.

If I need these expensive tests I need to shop around or just make payments. Otherwise I say "NO". Health care is very expensive. Unfortunately health care is not a right in this country it is run as a business. I used to fret about costs but I owe way too much to worry about it. I pay a $1000 a month in medical bills every month and it will grow as my balance for all my care grows. I fall through the cracks for all assistance. Worrying about it only makes me more stressed.

Alex

[PastorDan]

I was recently quoted figures ranging from about $1k to almost $5k, for MRI of brain with and without contrast.  These were all "in network" locations, and the one 3T machine I found was among the highest - but they told me that they charge the same amount for their 1.5T as for the 3T.  No comprendo.

[classiechic]

Sounds like a Big Mistake to me. That's Crazy. Call the Hospital. Did you have a scheduled MRI, or did you go through the ER? I can't imagine an MRI costing that much. I've had close to 10 MRI's and have never had to pay close to that.