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I have a heart attack

Hospitalization for an acute myocardial infarction.

Typical US price before insurance

$47,666

$27,434typical range$65,138

This is an allowed amount — the price actually negotiated with insurers, not the inflated list price. Source: Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker — cost of common health services (2018).

⚠️ Two problems with this number, and we would rather tell you. First, it is from 2018 — the most recent commercial price published anywhere, and no newer one exists. Second, it is probably too high for an uncomplicated heart attack: it is larger than our figure for a heart attack treated WITH a stent, which is backwards. Medicare's rates show a stent procedure costs more than a medical heart attack, so this 2018 figure likely bundles in stent cases. Treat it as an upper bound.

What Medicare pays for the same care $13,178

Private insurers pay 3.6× what Medicare pays for this.

All-in: $12,478 to the hospital plus $700 to the doctor (IPPS/MS-DRG, 2024). Divide the two figures above and you get our ratio — check our arithmetic. Source: CMS.

What you'd actually pay

Your coverage

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Where you live

Your state

$47,666

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.