Price One Scan Two Ways: Cash Against Your Remaining Deductible — Free
The cash price sounds cheaper until you remember the deductible you have not met yet, and the insured route sounds safe until you see that the scan costs you the whole $620 you owe anyway. Which one wins depends on four numbers that sit on three different documents. This slip puts them on one page, works out the difference for this scan, and names what the arithmetic leaves out.
The proof surface
Free path: the slip computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
A quoted cash price and an insurance explanation are never presented together, so the comparison happens in your head at the reception desk. Both routes reduce to one figure each — what leaves your account for this scan — and once those two figures sit on the same line the decision takes ten seconds instead of a phone call to the billing office.
How to use the self-pay price slip in four passes
A phone quote that excludes contrast, additional regions or a reporting fee is not a price. Ask what the total is for the scan your referral actually specifies, and write the add-ons in the second field.
The annual figure on your policy is not the figure that matters. Use the remaining amount from your insurer's portal or your last explanation of benefits — and remember it moves every time another claim posts.
The slip compares one scan. A cash payment may be cheaper today and cost you more across the year, because insured spending usually counts toward your out-of-pocket maximum and cash spending does not.
Both figures are estimates until someone confirms them. Change one number and check whether the ranking survives — if a $40 correction flips it, the decision is not a financial one and you should choose on report quality instead.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: MRI lumbar spine · Northside Hospital Imaging · cash $480 · insured route $620 deductible plus $90 copay · quoted 19 Sep 2026. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Comparing a cash price against a list price
The 'chargemaster' figure is what nobody pays. The insured side of this slip is your remaining deductible plus your copay, which is what actually leaves your account.
Forgetting that the deductible resets
A scan in December and the same scan in January can price differently on the insured side. If the referral is not urgent, the reset date is part of the arithmetic.
Choosing on price alone for a scan somebody else has to read
Turnaround, subspecialty reporting and whether you receive the images are not in the maths. A cheaper report that your consultant will not accept is the most expensive option here.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Booking through the hospital without asking | The insured route priced at a list figure nobody quoted you | a bill that arrives six weeks later |
| A medical-billing advocate | They will chase the quotes and the deductible for you | a percentage of what they save, or an hourly fee |
| Two phone calls and a spreadsheet | The same four numbers, re-typed and re-checked by hand | 45 minutes and a stale deductible figure |
| This page + the free self-pay price slip | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free self-pay price slip
A $480 cash quote is already set against a $620 remaining deductible and a $90 copay, so the slip puts the insured route at $710 for this scan. Change the deductible to $140 and the ranking flips.
Open the free self-pay price slip →Keep the work if you will use it again
Both routes, the difference, the break-even reasoning and the exclusions, plus copy and share-link, with no account.
The on-screen result is free and repeatable forever. The one-time tier adds a tangible file you keep and the saved history that comes with it; it never removes or degrades the free result.
Boundary: This does arithmetic on four figures you type in; it is not insurance, tax or medical advice, and it does not know your plan's rules. Confirm the deductible, the copay and the cash quote with your insurer and the provider in writing before you book, and ask whether a cash payment counts toward your out-of-pocket maximum.