How much does a brain MRI cost with insurance?

It depends on your plan type and hospital. In this metro, median negotiated rates in published hospital files range from the Medicare rate (baseline) to several times that amount for PPO plans. Your actual out-of-pocket cost depends on your deductible and coinsurance.

Why is the cash price sometimes lower than the insurance rate?

Hospitals set self-pay discounts independently of insurer contracts. In several published files the cash price is below the median PPO negotiated rate — if you have a high deductible, asking for the cash price can be worth it.

What is the Medicare rate shown here?

It is the national Medicare outpatient payment rate (CMS OPPS Addendum B) for the same procedure family, shown as a government baseline so you can see each hospital's multiple of it.

All procedures / Brain MRI / Pittsburgh, PA

Brain MRI Cost in Pittsburgh, PA (2026): Negotiated Rates by Insurance TypeNPI VERIFIED

Across 12 hospitals in the Pittsburgh, PA area that publish federally required price files, the median negotiated rate under commercial insurance is $716 (middle half of hospitals: $671–$5,890) and the median self-pay (cash) price is $3,991 for an MRI of the brain (without contrast). The Medicare outpatient baseline for the same procedure family is $356.

Source: hospital machine-readable files (45 CFR §180), file dates 2026-03-06 to 2026-04-14 · Medicare baseline: CMS OPPS Addendum B · Data extracted 2026-10-31 · Page updated 2026-10-31

Area covered: hospitals in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Butler, Washington and Beaver counties, Pennsylvania. Hospitals outside these places are not in this table, even if they serve the area.

Median insured rate

$716

commercial plans · 12 of 12 hospitals

Middle half

$671–$5,890

25th–75th percentile of hospitals

Median cash

$3,991

self-pay price · 12 hospitals list one

Medicare baseline

$356

CMS OPPS national

These are contract reference rates, not your bill. A plan-type median is not a quote for your specific plan or network. Your out-of-pocket cost depends on your deductible, coinsurance and network status. Rates shown are facility charges only — physician/radiologist fees are billed separately.

Hospital	Insured median	PPO	HMO	Commercial	Medicare Adv.	ACA Exchange	Medicare	Cash	List (gross)
Allegheny Valley Hospital Natrona · CMS 4★ · file updated 2026-04-14	$671	—	—	$6711.9× Medicare	$3641.0× Medicare	—	$3571.0× Medicare	$3,712	$4,821
Allegheny General Hospital Pittsburgh · CMS 3★ · file updated 2026-04-14	$671	—	—	$6711.9× Medicare	$3651.0× Medicare	—	$3571.0× Medicare	$4,071	$5,357
West Penn Hospital Pittsburgh · CMS 3★ · file updated 2026-04-14	$671	—	—	$6711.9× Medicare	$3641.0× Medicare	—	$3571.0× Medicare	$3,910	$5,357
Canonsburg General Hospital Canonsburg · CMS 3★ · file updated 2026-04-14	$671	—	—	$6711.9× Medicare	$3641.0× Medicare	—	$3571.0× Medicare	$3,760	$4,821
Forbes Hospital Monroeville · CMS 3★ · file updated 2026-04-14	$671	—	—	$6711.9× Medicare	$3641.0× Medicare	—	$3571.0× Medicare	$3,760	$4,821
Ahn Wexford Hospital Wexford · CMS 5★ · file updated 2026-04-14	$671	—	—	$6711.9× Medicare	$3641.0× Medicare	—	$3571.0× Medicare	$3,765	$5,089
St Clair Hospital Pittsburgh · CMS 4★ · file updated 2026-03-31	$760	$9372.6× Medicare	$7602.1× Medicare	$8152.3× Medicare	$3391.0× Medicare	—	$3511.0× Medicare	$911	$3,672
Upmc East Monroeville · CMS 4★ · file updated 2026-03-06	$3,808	$6,73618.9× Medicare	—	$4,14511.6× Medicare	$3671.0× Medicare	$3,4719.7× Medicare	$3671.0× Medicare	$6,218	$10,364
Upmc Mercy Pittsburgh · CMS 4★ · file updated 2026-03-06	$5,810	$8,68324.4× Medicare	—	$5,81016.3× Medicare	$7852.2× Medicare	—	$1,5444.3× Medicare	$6,512	$10,854
Upmc Mckeesport Hospital Mc Keesport · CMS 3★ · file updated 2026-03-06	$6,130	$6,55318.4× Medicare	—	$6,13017.2× Medicare	$3671.0× Medicare	—	$3671.0× Medicare	$6,049	$10,082
Upmc St Margaret Pittsburgh · CMS 3★ · file updated 2026-03-06	$7,263	$7,74721.7× Medicare	—	$6,77819.0× Medicare	$7902.2× Medicare	—	$3741.1× Medicare	$5,810	$9,684
Magee Womens Hospital Of Upmc Health System Pittsburgh · CMS 4★ · file updated 2026-03-06	$7,361	$9,26826.0× Medicare	—	$5,45315.3× Medicare	$7662.2× Medicare	—	$3671.0× Medicare	$6,741	$11,235

Each figure is the median of that hospital's published rates for the procedure's code family under that plan type. "Insured median" is the median of the hospital's commercial-plan rates (PPO, HMO, EPO, POS, ACA marketplace and plans not labelled by type); the headline figure is the median of that column. Hospitals label plan types differently, so compare the Insured median column across hospitals rather than a single plan-type column. "×Medicare" compares to the CMS national outpatient rate. Blank cells mean the hospital's file discloses no dollar rate for that plan type.

Reuse: the price statistics on this page are licensed CC BY 4.0 — use them for anything, including commercial work, crediting "HospitalPriceGrid (ArtiLabs)". Site text, design and paid data extracts are not covered.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a brain MRI cost with insurance?: It depends on your plan type and hospital. In this metro, median negotiated rates in published hospital files range from the Medicare rate (baseline) to several times that amount for PPO plans. Your actual out-of-pocket cost depends on your deductible and coinsurance.
Why is the cash price sometimes lower than the insurance rate?: Hospitals set self-pay discounts independently of insurer contracts. In several published files the cash price is below the median PPO negotiated rate — if you have a high deductible, asking for the cash price can be worth it.
What is the Medicare rate shown here?: It is the national Medicare outpatient payment rate (CMS OPPS Addendum B) for the same procedure family, shown as a government baseline so you can see each hospital's multiple of it.

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