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I end up in the ER

An emergency room visit, all causes, averaged across severity levels.

Typical US price before insurance

$2,909

$970typical range$3,043

This is an allowed amount — the price actually negotiated with insurers, not the inflated list price. Source: Health Care Cost Institute — emergency room spending & price trends (2021).

Range is the 25th–75th percentile. The most severe visits (level 5) average $3,855. Insured patients paid $646 out of pocket on average.

What Medicare pays for the same care $673

All-in: $526 to the hospital plus $147 to the doctor (OPPS/APC, 2024). Divide the two figures above and you get our ratio — check our arithmetic. We don't show a ratio here: our commercial figure is a whole ER episode (visit + labs + imaging) while Medicare's is the visit fee alone. Different things — a ratio would be meaningless. Source: CMS.

What you'd actually pay

Your coverage

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Where you live

Your state

$2,909

The national average price.

State prices from RAND's hospital price study — how much your state's hospitals charge private insurers relative to Medicare. This is a statewide price level, not a per-procedure state price. Maryland isn't shown: it sets hospital rates for all payers, so the comparison doesn't apply there.

This is an estimate, not a bill. It applies published average deductibles and a 20% coinsurance (KFF's measured average for a hospital admission) to a national average price. Your actual plan, hospital and diagnosis will move this number. Not medical or financial advice.