Why does a CT scan cost so much in the USA?
Published by Vijay October 29th, 2007 in CT, Health Economics, Life in India, Medical blogs, Medicine, Nebulous Views, Other Bloggers, Radiology, UltrasonographyThe subtext of this post is obviously my inability to comprehend the high costs of healthcare in the USA. I am not going to add anything new to the arguments for or against defensive medicine. This debate has been raging in some corner or the other ever since the medical blogosphere came into existence.
What prompted this post was a visit to The Blog That Ate Manhattan late last night and this post in particular.
TBTAM writes…
A young college student presents to the ER with abdominal pain. She gets a CT scan. The CT scan shows an ovarian cyst. Dad, who is an MD, gets the bill for over $8,000, most of which is for the CT. Dad goes on CBS says his daughter should have had an ultrasound because it was cheaper. He says it is because the ER docs were practicing defensive medicine.
What piqued my curiosity was the sentence “Dad, who is an MD, gets the bill for over $8,000, most of which is for the CT. ”
That cannot be right, I thought. Maybe TBTAM made a mistake in the numbers. So I checked the CBS news article that she got the story from and had linked to.
Here is the pertinent extract from the news article (emphases are mine)…
It started as a simple stomach ache, but Alexandra Varipapa, a sophomore at the University of Richmond, decided to go to the emergency room. There, doctors ordered a full CT scan, a radiation imaging test, which found a harmless ovarian cyst. She never questioned the CT scan, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports.
But her father did - when he got the $8,500 bill, $6,500 of which was that CT scan. “I was pretty flabbergasted,” said Robert Varipapa, himself a physician. Varipapa says his daughter’s pain could have been diagnosed far more easily and cheaply with a $1,400 ultrasound. “A history, a pelvic examination and probably an ultrasound,” he said. And he would have started with the ultrasound.
$6,500 for an abdominal CT scan!!!
Dr. Varipapa had a right to be flabbergasted. After all, he footed the bill.
I am speechless.
Well, almost.
Once I give you the reasons, I am sure most of you will be dumbfounded too.
They probably did a plain CT scan of the whole Abdomen on a multislice CT scanner (aka multidetector row CT / MDCT) as that is the usual emergency protocol for acute abdominal pain. This is usually adequate to diagnose appendicitis and to rule out the usual mimics of appendicitis (here is a good online article with lots of pictures).
A complete contrast CT scan (with oral or rectal contrast and intravenous contrast) would give more information, but this is unlikely to be done in an emergency.
A basic MDCT scanner (6 or 8 detector rows) costs about 2 to 2.5 crore rupees here in India (INR 20 to 25 million = US $ 500,000 to 630,000). I learnt from a source in the industry that the cost of the scanner is about 40% subsidized for the Indian market (compared to its cost in the North American & European markets). So the same basic multislice CT scanner would cost about $ 900,000 in the US.
We have a basic four-slice MDCT scanner in our hospital. A patient would be charged Rs. 3500 ($ 90, yes ninety dollars) for a plain CT scan or Rs. 4500 ($ 115) for a contrast CT scan of the whole abdomen. Ours is a small city. The charges are likely to be as high as Rs. 8000 or Rs. 9000 ($ 200 to 230) in the bigger metros like Chennai, Mumbai or Delhi.
An ultrasound scan of the whole abdomen is usually done by the radiologist (me) or another doctor who has a good deal of experience in ultrasonography. We do not have sonography technicians here in India. We have a fairly decent basic colour Doppler scanner which is more than sufficient for routine work. An abdomen scan at my department costs Rs. 350 (about $ 9 - yes nine dollars). We most often do not charge anything extra for an abdomen scan that goes on to become a transvaginal scan - as it would in case it turns out to be something like an ovarian cyst. So the lady gets two scans for the price of one.
The costs quoted in the CBS news article are ginormous. It reminds of the $456 Billion Meme that I did a few months ago.
Here’s a quick break-up…..
With the $ 6500 that was charged for one CT abdomen; I could do a contrast CT of the abdomen for fifty-six patients or a plain CT scan of the abdomen for seventy-three patients here in my radiology department in Salem.
With the $ 1400 that would have been charged for an ultrasound scan of the abdomen (if it had been done); I could do ultrasound scans of the abdomen for one hundred and fifty seven patients in my department.
Or think of it this way…
The CT scan is worth as much as six MacBooks or twenty iPod Touchs. Steve Jobs would probably have a fit if he saw this.
I do not understand the numbers. We pay just 40% less than the Americans for the same equipment. But we charge peanuts compared to their charges.
The argument that the quality of work is better in the US to justify the high costs would not apply to radiology. The technology and knowledge gap between radiology-as-practiced in the US and radiology-as-practiced in India isn’t all that wide.
I cannot imagine how these kind of costs can be justified.
Coming back to TBTAM’s post, there were some interesting comments. I agree completely with this one by geez…
I’m actually shocked, not living in the USA, that a ultra-sound in a hospital costs 1400$. Even given the US machine you can get for 100K, and assuming you use it on one patient a day (surely I’ve given us at least an 100x factor here), surely you’re paying the doctor or her boss at least 500$ too much for these 15 minutes. Am I missing something?
But I think the best comment was from Edwin Leap, MD, FACEP. He ends with….
Anyway, I sympathize with all parties. As a dad, I want reasonable, cost-efficient care for my children. As a doc, seeing lots of people very fast, sometimes the test that rules out the worst things fastest is the way to go. And though I’m not a surgeon, I understand that in a litigation-prone world, more information is always better than less.
It seems we want everything done, nothing missed, and all of it at a discount. Welcome to reality!
He had mentioned his “latest blog post on why that CT cost $8000, or something ridiculous like that, and what we should do with that bill.” I tried to get to his blog but the link on his name took me to a Blogger ‘profile not available’ page. Google to the rescue and I found his blog and the post in question, which was basically about his son’s appendicitis and surgery.
Thought provoking post, even for someone like me who has minimal knowledge of the way the US healthcare system works.
Now is the time for me to do some ‘holier-than-thou’ preaching.
Indians who read this, medical professionals or laypeople, should be thankful for the fact that in any reasonably good radiology setup in India, one gets scans of first-world quality at third-world prices.
Update (November 17, 2007):
Found this excellent post by Aggravated DocSurg through GruntDoc. Not pertinent to the cost of CT scans in the US, but a very good explanation of the utility (or lack thereof) of CT scan in the diagnosis of Appendicitis.
The cost of healthcare in the US is staggering. When I read this post I felt nauseated. It makes me afraid for where things are headed - since they very seldom change for the better.
Really good work, Vijay. Excellent post.
Vijay,
US healthcare economics are part of another planet. A few years ago, a friend told me a radiologist who puts in a catheter into the middle cerebral artery for infusing TPA for acute strokes gets paid $10,000!
I couldn’t believe it! Similarly, surgeries also cost more there than in India. However, their good days are also over, with major cuts in pay for procedures, and insurance hassles reducing take home checks.
Very good post, thanks!
I guess part of the problem is that in the ER in the USA it seems that not many of the patients are actually paying because the ER is not allowed to turn anyone away by law. So the hospital has to charge the paying customer excessively to make up the cost of all the free ones.
Of course in Canada there would be no charge because of our medical care system but then we don’t have so many machines so often you have to wait. I think you would find here that many people do not get a CT scan when they would for the same thing in the USA.
Very interesting post Vijay and good for everyone to realize this.
Excellent post Vijay. Good detailed one.
Yes, I totally agree with you. The cost of any medical treatment/check up is very high not only in USA but in other countries of Europe as well.
When I was in Switzerland, I once developed an eyesore..something like red swollen eyes. Not a serious one.
Now had I been in India, depending on the availability of time & seriousness, I could have either gone to any chemist for a bottle of eye drops (they usually know what to give), or would have visited an eye specialist and the total cost of the treatment would not have been more than Rs 500/-.
There I spent $95, only for the check up & a prescription w/o which I couldn’t have bought medicine.
i feel proud that we are in a place where medical expense is affordable. Feel sad that still many people cannot afford it. What will happen if any of us get struck in one of these developed countries with a stroke or infarction without an insurance. Hearing the cost alone will send us straight to heaven. Of course you need not worry about your will and estate since all those would have been paid-up for your initial investigations.
Good post Vijay. Especially, the cost of machines, the subsidy and comparision to ipod.
Interesting post.
Allow me to clarify a few things. $6500 is the charge for a CT scan, but I’m sure it is nowhere near what the hospital has contracted to accept for this service from the insurance companies it contracts with. In most cases, it will receive somewhere between 300-600 dollars, I suspect.
Unless the patient has no insurance, in which case they are stuck paying the full charges.
The particular hospital in the CBS story has ridiculous charges, and I don’t think these charges are reflective of what most hospitals charge, and certainly not what they receive.
Unfortunately, CBS got the story wrong. It is the story of bad ER care at an overpriced private hospital, not a story that represents US healthcare in general. (At least in my humble opinion)
tbtam: Thanks for the clarification. Which has me more confused - nothing new there as it is the usual case when I start thinking of economics
I don’t understand how the hospital can charge more than what it has contracted to accept for a service. Edwin Leap’s post tried to explain the disparity between the actual cost of a service and the amount received from a patient and how it is justified.
Moof: It’s beginning to look like this is the same path that the private-sector healthcare in India, which is increasingly being paid for by insurance is headed in India. I agree that it is nauseating and scary.
Rambodoc: I’m surprised to see you commenting on a healthcare related post while you are on holiday. Is it raining in Bali?!
I agree that it looks like the ‘good days’ are over.
JMB: It is not fair to charge the paying customer (or his insurer) more just because you are bound by law to give the same standard of care to the non-paying customer. The government should foot that bill. Take some of that $700 million per day that is being spent on a useless war and spend it on giving good healthcare to people.
Cuckoo: I agree with what you say about the cost of treatment in the west, but I have to disagree with you on one point. It is totally wrong and illegal for a chemist/pharmacist to give any non-OTC drug to someone without a valid prescription. I’m not too sure if you realize that is wrong. That speaks volumes about the ethics of medical practice here in India.
ST Doc: The one time that I visited the US, the first thing that my doctor friends advised me was to be sure to take a short term health insurance / accident policy. You should spend a few days in my department to really see how many people cannot afford even $9 for an ultrasound scan because the entire family’s monthly income is less than $100. And the newspapers rejoice at Mukesh Ambani beating Carlos Slim to be the world’s richest man.
Yes, I am fully aware that this practice is wrong. And that is why I said depending on the availability of time & seriousness, I could have either gone to any chemist for a bottle of eye drops (they usually know what to give), or would have visited an eye specialist.
But tell me, how many of us go to a doctor for general fever or cough & cold ? We directly head for the chemist shop who gives us the appropriate medicine. I have even seen people buying Espazine plus without any prescription !
Wrong or right is another thing to debate on. 
So, don’t disagree with me, rather agree to the fact that it happens right here.
Warning: This comment is tangential to the post.
What is “quality of medical care”? I have had emergency treatment in the US after a lab-accident. The response was quick and efficient, no doubt, and I was in the hospital in six minutes flat, but the doctors who did the treatment (removing gazillion glass pieces from my upper body) did it mechanically like I was a machine that had broken down and they were mechanics fixing it, all the while discussing the party they had attended the previous day. My emergency C-section in India, however was different with everybody, from the ob-gyn to the nurse actually being very supportive and well, comforting.
Have you seen the movie “Patch Adams”? It portrays very nicely the ills of medical treatment in the US.
Came here from Jmb’s site and would like to leave a small comment.
Because the USA is a capitalist country I believe the medical system there is treated like any other business - the bottom line being the almighty buck with the most expensive but thorough equipment used and everything accomplished in a very correct though cool and aloof manner.
Here in Canada the atmosphere is much warmer and caring for the patient with the downside being longer waits for the less common and more expensive equipment.
Perhaps a combination of these systems would lead to the most benefit for both the patient and the medical system in both countries.
I wanted to shared my experience since it pertains to the cost as well as procedure of diagnosis in the US. I am a healthy 27 year old and presented myself to the ER with fairly severe lower abdominal pain, just like the college student mentioned in the post above. I was not even seen by a doctor until I demanded that I wanted a consult with the attending physician. I was checked by a Physician’s Assistant, a urine test was done to rule out bladder infection and pregnancy and then the Physician’s Assistant walked in with an IV and a firm recommendation for a blood test followed by a 3-way contrast CT scan. She palpated my abdomen and despite the fact that I did not present any of the symptoms of appendicitis, i.e. no nausea, vomiting or right quadrant pain she said the only way to rule out appendicitis was to give me an IV, oral and rectal contrast for a full body CT scan. I was shocked at this aggressive line of diagnosis. At that point I asked her if we could do the blood test first and then wait to see if I had elevated WBC count and then perhaps do the CT scan. She said the blood test would not be conclusive so it would be meaningless to rule out the CT scan based on the blood work report. At that point I asked to see the attending physician in the ER. I told him that I wanted some painkillers and would like to wait it out before I allowed such invasive procedures. He was much more reasonable and said that it would be fine and if my symptoms worsened then I could return to the ER for the three-way contrast CT Scan. I went home and decided to wait it out and it turns out that was a good decision! I saw your web page when I was googling to get more information about the 3 way CT scan. Just like the girl in the report I was not even offered the option of a sonogram and there was no complete medical history taken for instance I wasn’t asked what I had eaten that morning or if I had engaged in physically strenuous exercise or anything else. I am really appalled at the state of the health care industry in the states. I think we have a far better system in India where they don’t try to “bomb” you into a diagnosis!
Me eyeballs stright hit the monitor and came back. 6500 dollars? Here we charge 175 for a USS and 750 for a plain CT. And BPL patients pay half (or none, I’m nt sure which). This is for our hospotal, scan centres charge a little more. But I’m betting it’s not even 6500 rupees.
Under the arrangements proposed for the British National Health Service (NHS),
radiology departments will be reimbursed for examinations carried out on NHS patients according to a “tariff”.
The tariff for a CT scan ranges from £103 to £218.
The tariff for an ultrasound scan is £62-£92.
This seems like quite a good deal for the public, considering that the UK is quite an expensive country.
Ref:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&dID=150476&Rendition=Web
Something has to be done about cattle-call medical care and greedy insurance companies in the USA. Hopefully, the next president will have more power over the insurance companies.
Vijay: I have an abd. CT pending, and I shopped around for prices here in Mexico. In the US, the idea of “shopping around” as a cash-pay patient is already a near-impossibility. The crazy-ridiculous prices are compounded by the fact that you can’t even find out what simple procedures will cost beforehand because, being a capitalist business, medical providers don’t want to “tip their hand” to an anonymous phone caller asking about prices.
To give a reference point for this country in its 2nd largest city in a private hospital with near-US-quality of equipment, care, etc., I can get a complete abdominal CT w/contrast for $450-500USD without difficulty. I could go cheaper, but given what I’d know of the rest of the facilities, I’d be worrying about the quality of the equipment and how that would ultimately reflect on the imaging quality.
To Susana above: the next president, regardless of party, has no power over insurance companies–you should know that. Congress provides laws constraining the insurance industry and their wheels are so well greased, if you took away insurance lobbyists today, it’d still be a decade before the stench of their influence leaves DC.
As JMB says, healthcare is “free” in Canada (not really though, we pay incredibly high taxes), nevertheless CT scans are not done routinely. I just had an abdominal ultra sound for suspected gallbladder and when I asked why no CT scan I was told “too expensive”. On the other hand, I am getting an echo doplar for my heart relatively quickly, just a one week wait. In Greece my mother in law got a CT scan within an hour of getting to hospital for suspected stroke. My mother didn’t get one for 10 days by which point it was too late. I waited 3 years for a hip replacement and I’m now on a waiting list for the other one. Maybe I’ll come to India and have it done, I hear there are excellent surgeons there…ciao
The cost of 1400 for the US is easily explained:
reimbursement from Medicare is about 20 %, that makes 280 dollars.
That’s all you need to know about it.
Interstingly, in case you are NOT insured you will feel the heat of this system, YOU WILL BE CHARGED 1400.;
after that, you go to the hospital and say, ok, I give you cash, but I can give you 20 % only.
The hospital will accept, because they do not want you to pay 10/months over 30 years to balance your bill.
I am an international student in FL. I went to ER for severe back pain last November and ended up having X-Rays, blood tests and CT scan. They charged me $8000 and claim is still in process by insurance company. But I am pretty sure they are not gonna pay it.
I am now extremely worried how it is gonna be.
CT scans do not cost $6500…so I am not sure where this information came from. We typically get paid between $250 and $500 for our CT scans and the vast majority are paid for by insurance companies we are contracted with. Either the information is grossly exaggerated or it does not reflect the typical imaging center in the US.
People who never did a CT in USA can not have an idea about the excessive cost in this service. Last 23, I went to emergency room with abdominal pain. I told to paramedic about going to Harbor Medical Center in Torrance, CA. because is the emergency room than I know and is close to my house. They decided go to other hospital .
I was there for 3 hours, the doctor order a radiography, I though this was perfect but I saw a diferent machine, WOW, so diferent to a common x ray machine. they diagnose on me Kidney stones, and the doctor send me with a letter to a county Hospital for treatment, exactly the harbor UCLA, I went there to an emergency room, doctor detected a stomach infection, and he gave me pills, I got better and when I call to know my bill in the first hospital, was 7,992.00 dollars, now I’m suffering because I don;t have health insurance, I don;t have the money to pay that bill, and I have to add 640.00 for ambulance service. I’m absolutly agree about you are saying. Consumer affair, but I’m need someone who can help me to find a place to complain about excessive cost in this case.
I don’t know what hospitals you’re going to, but when I had, to what was thought to be, a cerebrial anyerism, turned out to be vertigo, the doctor ordered a CT scan, I was in and out in less then 30 mins. The Bill invoice $830.00. Now this is in Salem, Oregon. The machine was a state of the art, Phillips, 3D type of contraption, the hospital paid over $670,000 (USD) for it, it was published in our local paper. I have no idea why your’s was so high.
I had a single CT Scan performed in Dec. ‘07 in Austin Texas (Seton Medical Center) and the costs (in $US) were as follows:
CT ABD WO CONT $3,712.00
CT PELVIS LTD WO $3,368.75
CT 3D RNDR WO PSTPRC $112.50
Total Cost: $7,193.25
The ‘two’ CT scan costs were for a single image, however because the image covered both the pelvis *and* the abdomen the hospital felt justified in charging *twice* for the same image.
Also, this was the *actual* amount paid by my insurance company (with a large deductible by me) - not some type of marked-up and then discounted amount. Anyone who says that this is not a customary and usual charge ($6,000 ) and amount actually paid for a CT scan has obviously not been in a hospital in the United States in a long, long time….
I went to the emergency room with abdominal pain in Jan.2008 in Tucson,AZ St.Josephs/Carondelet Hospital. The doctor ordered a CT scan and this was done in the radiology lab, a short while later they came in and said they needed to re do it either because it wasn’t clear or the doctor or radiologist couldn’t see something they wanted to see.
Back to radiology for a second go. I got the bill today and it is as follows
CONTRST NON-ION 350MG PR 787.50
CT ABDO W/CON 1328.25
CT PELVIS W/CON 1328.25
Radiology Sevices 432.00
This comes up to $3876.00 for the the CT scan which doesn’t include any of the other ER charges or professional services (doctor bill from ER) which was about another $1500.00.
The whole thing was inconclusive and the total bill was close to $5500.00. I am uninsured and trying to figure out how I’m going to pay this. At least I now know what was the most expensive drink I’ve ever had. I couldn’t believe the contrast was almost eight hundred dollars.
My daughter received a CT scan at Seton Northwest in Austin, Texas and the charges were:
CT ABD W CONT $4057.25
CT PELVIS LTD W $3765.50
(why add $.25 and $.50?)
The total cost for her several hour stay at Seton Northwest Emergency:
$10,605.75
My insurance is a high deductible plan. They paid $3,632.55. The hospital reduced the charge in accordance with their negotiated rates with this particular insurance company in the amount of $1590.87, leaving me to pay $5,382.33 for the several hours in the emergency room. (She had unexplained abdominal pain which was later determined to be psychosomatic–after 4 days in the Children’s hospital and many more tests). A doctor (of Indian descent, coincidentally) finally gave it to us straight–there’s nothing wrong with your daughter. She was under a lot of stress at school (at only 9 years old). The immediate move toward aggressive measures was wrong, and insensitive. It created a hysteria that probably exacerbated the problem. My daughter was given Ativan to “calm” her at one point during her hospital stay, and she had a terrible reaction that was difficult to watch as a parent. I was not impressed with the complete absence of a holistic (whole-person/situation) approach. Of course the concern was that it might be appendicitis at first, but there were no other indications, and apparently psychosomatic abdominal pain is not uncommon in 9 year old girls.
I agree the health care delivery system in the U.S. is broken, and it’s not because we are litigious. Medical Malpractice law in Texas is now virtually non-existent due to reforms that have nearly wiped out the right to recover for the deserving cases as well as the undeserving. Plus, studies have shown that costs of litigation are miniscule in the health care system. In our culture, we do strive toward getting everything perfect, and that sometimes creates more problems than it solves, but I honestly don’t think that it is what drives costs so high–I have some thoughts on it, but I really don’t know.
I feel like I’m drowning in medical bills. I went to the emergency room last week May/08 in Florida after having an unexplained seizure. (still unexplained) I was kept over night for observation and released the next evening. The bills are crazy! Pharmacy $450. Laboratory $6022.60….. ct scan $2,395.05 and they did an MRI too!! that’s another $3,151.05. WHY BOTH? I’m unemployeed and uninsured. The hopital bill alone is $16,091.04 Then I’m getting bills from outside labs for $1,000. that did drug tests and platelet count and urinalysis….i don’t know how this is different from the laboratory fees I’m being charged in the hospital bills. Then I’m getting two other bills from a different diagnostic center that says it’s the fee for the physician that interpreted the ct scan and the mri for another $600.00
I fully believe the cost of the CT scan here. My dad had lymphoma about five years ago, and routinely had CT scans (and still does) that cost about $5000. After all was said and done, through chemo and a bone marrow transplant, the cost of his care was close to $400,000. If he didn’t have insurance, he would be dead. That’s disgusting.
Emergency rooms can’t turn you away - but they don’t necessarily have to do anything about your condition, either. When I was uninsured and needed my gall bladder removed, they wouldn’t even perform the ultrasound to confirm it unless I could pay for it (which I couldn’t). I was told many times to “come back with health insurance.” The entire experience of needing a procedure done without health insurance and living under the poverty level was a harrowing one and has certainly made me aware of much needed reforms to our health care industry.
The bottom line: US health care is privatized and insurance companies are for-profit organizations, including those that are classified by the IRS as NPO’s. (non-profit).
The administrative cost of health care i nthe US is about 40% of the billed amount.
Most health care insurance providers bill an amount that is roughly double of what they expect to actually get paid.
The biggest secret in health care billing is that when you get billed 4,000 for some procedure and pay only 2.000 you may just get away with it. you have to keep proving somehow that yo ucant afford to pay it all.
if Hillary Clinton’s single-payer system would actually be implemented, 30% of those 40% of admin. costs would evaporate. it would also make the business of health care provision essentially unprofitable. This is why it will never go through congress no matter who is president.
I expect a dramatic shift in how US health care is maanged starting in 2015-2020 due to the extremely high percentage of US population in retirement age at that time. the cost-structure will spiral completely out of control, and serious changes will have to occur.
The end effect will be that US doctors will be paid substantially less than they are now, which will attract less talent into the universities, less money spent in research, and an increase in over-thr-counter drug use in lieu of professinoal treatment.
The winners are pharmaceutical companies with existing patents. The losers are health insurance companies, hospitals, and ultimately the sick patients.
Wow, this is a fascinating article. I live in Australia, and a cost for a CT is about $300 out of pocket, about half of which we can claim back from the government. My husband went to a private hospital a while ago with renal colic and got a renal protocol scan, which is a little less detailed, I suspect. He spent the day in ED, and our complete bill (not subsidised by the government) was about $500. Provision of information is universal, but healthcare costing is not.
We have fairly clear rules about when you can do which test, as the government won’t subsidise anything. However, radiology clinics make a nice side business out of offering “whole body scans” for those who are willing to pay out of pocket. I can’t believe people would participate in that if the scans were $6500.
In around 2002 in Asheville, North Carolina I called “911″ and wanted to ask to just talk to a counsellor as I had no phonebook and theyt asked if I was ok and as soon as I finished talking with the 911 person I felt better and she asked if I still wanted the ER car to come pick me up and I said no thanks, I’m fine now. Yet the ER Ambulance came anyway and forced me to lie down on their “bed” and they carried me to the car even if I could walk by myself and I was asking if they just leavem but they talked me into this smooth procedure at the hospital etc. Being from Europe I assumed the medical care was free in USA (dummy!) and so I went to the hospital in Asheville, NC where they kept me for 4 hours, doing a CAT Scan etc. etc. even if all I had was some kind of panic attack! Then they let me go, but I said how am I going to get back home for a 20 mile drive!? They assumed I have friends or relatives to pick me up, but I had no one. I didn’t even have a chance to grab a coat, a jacket, let alone shoes! Let alone take a quick shower! So there I was in winter barefoot with house slippers with a t-shirt walking around hospital trying to get a ride home and they let me use their phone to call a taxi cab, which charged $55 and arrived in about 1 hour late. OK, I was back home, all “saliced up” by cat scan and calm like a stone, no more panic attack, especially when later I received an almost $4000 bill from that hpospital. I think cat scan was about $1800, the one-way “ride” was $800, etc. Which made my mouth paralysed for a few hours… Later I found out they charge so much to compensate all others who never pay… Wow, that was a huge bill to pay almost $4000, but now you’re saing $6500 for a cat scan alone!!?? I though $1800 for a cat scan was a rip-off! I expected figures in the hundreds and I thought the most will be free except perhaps some small charges like $150 which was also a lot for me having a salary of only $1100 a month.
Please tell me where is the best mildest climate in India. I’m moving to India right away!
Hello, I am a CT Tech in Illinois, USA. Our hospital has a 64 slice GE scanner that cost 2 million
dollars for the entire system. This was the state-of-the-art system when purchased about 3 years ago.
I recently saw on a patients estimate of charges that for an abdpel scan without contrast to r/o kidney
stone the cost would be $6700. This floored me I had no idea they were charging that much for a scan(I
should ask for a raise). Also there are charges for the radiologists interpretation of the scan and those
docs get PAID, but the also pay between $50,000-$80,000 for malpractice insurance annually. Thanks
Thanks Russ,
We’re planning an upgrade to a Siemens 128 slice scanner which costs about US $ 1.5 million even at the subsidized rates for India. I guess we’ll charge about US $ 200 - 250 (two hundred & fifty) for a coronary CTA and increase our other scan costs by about 10 - 15%. Still peanuts compared to US rates.
As I wrote in my post, I pay peanuts for malpractice liability insurance, which is almost non-existent here in India. So I guess I won’t be getting a raise
I grew up and lived in Lithuania. One of the best doctors in the world, even if corrupted. They did wonders with little equipment. I stayed in a hospital for 3 weeks and the “bill” was…. no bill. Free. Not a very modern hospital in 1980s, but it was great for me. Dentists were horrible though. USA is good for rich people and young people. Everyone else should move to Europe. In fact, USA is going to become a communist country soon, so don’t move to Europe yet.
My daughter was in the hospital for two day with high fever and stomach pain and they did two CT scan for the abdomen I got the bill and just for the CT scan was $22,949 my insurance covered $16,000, but I just want to know if the amount of money could be wrong?
A well written post that was ultra informative. Thank you!
Husband has to go in ONCE A YEAR for a CT scan and apparently because of his B-Disection they do not one, not two, but THREE scans!
Current cost as of October 2008 is:
$2,103 $1,766 $1,913 (also $114 $12.36 for “incidentals)
TOTAL = $5,908.36 (Barnes Jewish Hospital)
Insurance negotiated price = $3,456.40 (Aetna)
Our 20% deductible = $792.98 (Note: We pay bi-monthly through work @ a well known pharm & medical device company)
At these prices, one wonders if it may be cheaper to go to India on a vacation and have them done. I LOVE curry!
I believe the $792.98 is the real actual cost and anything above it what insurance company pays is a rip off and a waste.
CT scans to me are like x-rays for dental - perhaps a good tool for a bad doctor.
yeah but dental x-rays are not expensive
Thanks for the comments and additional info Bea, Ann & John.
I didn’t realize you were tracking the comments on this old post, else I would have replied earlier. When I saw US $ 22,949 as the cost of two CT scans, my jaw dropped (again!). I said on twitter to my friends that it would be a major portion of my annual earnings as a radiologist in India!!
I think John is right in his assessment of the true cost of the scan. I agree that most hospitals try to overbill insurance companies. I wonder how much they would charge an uninsured but affordable patient?
Ann: You could definitely do a family trip to India and get a scan done. Like I said, the quality difference is minimal. The cost difference is humongous. I would even give you a substantial discount from the actual US $ 100 charge for a CT abdomen if you chose to come to my hospital
I don’t agree that CT scans are a good tool for a bad doctor. It’s more like a great tool for covering one’s ass in the currently prevalent defensive medicine practice.
yeah I think it will be kind of cool to go to India, but in the meantime I have to find out about the real cost of the CT scan, I think they made a mistake
After my investigations, I found a local group “Metro Imaging” who can do CT scans for a FRACTION of the costs of local hospitals AND they do the “readings” inclusively (no extra bill from an out-side doctor).
So instead of the Insurance Company receiving a bill of $6,779.36 the new bill would be:
$1,618.00 - how about that!
However, if you are currently hospitalized, I’m sure this is not an option to go outside for a test. But, in our case where a 3-part CT scan is required annually - this will save us hundreds of dollars (Insurance company saves thousands).