Why there is no price on these pages
Search for the price of a CT scan and you will find a confident range on a dozen sites. Almost all of them are national averages assembled from data the publisher does not identify, applied to a market they have not looked at.
That number does two harmful things. It makes you think you know what to expect, and it gives you nothing to say when the bill is four times higher, because you cannot cite it to anyone.
So the pages in this section publish something else: the anatomy of the bill, the lever that actually moves it, and the sentence that gets you a real quote. Where a real number is public, and hospitals are legally required to publish machine-readable price files, we say exactly where to look.
The three parts of almost every bill
The facility charge. For the room, the equipment, the staff, the overhead. This is the part that changes depending on how the site is licensed, and it is where the biggest surprises live. What a facility fee is.
The professional fee. For the clinician: the physician who saw you, the radiologist who read the scan, the pathologist who read the sample, the anesthesiologist. Frequently a separate company with separate billing, even when the work happened inside the hospital.
Everything performed. Labs, imaging, injections, supplies, each with its own code and its own line.
People budget for one of these and get billed for three. When you ask a price, the question has to name all three.
The setting is the price
This is the single most useful thing on this page, and it applies to imaging, labs, minor procedures and routine visits alike.
| Setting | What is typically billed |
|---|---|
| Freestanding center or independent office | Professional fee, plus a technical charge. No hospital facility fee. Usually the lowest total for routine outpatient work. |
| Hospital outpatient department | Professional fee, plus technical, plus a facility fee — because the site is licensed as part of the hospital, even when it is a storefront a mile away. |
| Inside an ER visit or an inpatient stay | Folded into the hospital account, where that account’s rules apply. |
A practice that looks identical from the sidewalk can bill either way. The tell is not the sign on the door; it is the answer to “is this location a hospital outpatient department?”
When the price does not matter
For uninsured patients in New York, a large part of this becomes academic, and far too few people know it.
At or below 200% of the federal poverty level, a New York hospital may not charge an uninsured patient out-of-pocket costs for medically necessary care. Up to 300% the charge is capped at 10% of the Medicaid rate; up to 400%, at 20%. There is no asset test, immigration status may not be considered, and you can apply after the bill arrives, even after it goes to collections.
That means the correct order for an uninsured patient facing a large scheduled cost is: apply for financial assistance first, shop the price second. The procedure.
Preventive care is a separate category
Some services are supposed to cost you nothing at all when they are delivered as preventive care under an insurance plan: screenings, annual wellness visits, immunizations, and more. The rules are specific and the billing frequently gets them wrong, which is why a “free” screening sometimes arrives with a charge attached.
Knowing which category your visit falls into before you go is worth more than any price comparison. What counts as preventive and what flips it.
If you are paying yourself, get it in writing
Uninsured and self-pay patients are entitled to a good faith estimate in writing before scheduled care. The federal dispute process opens when the final bill exceeds the estimate by $400 or more, with 120 days to file and a $25 fee.
Ask for it when you book, not on the day. How good faith estimates work.
The pages in this section
Each one takes a single common event and takes the bill apart.
Visits: a doctor visit · a specialist visit · urgent care · an emergency room visit · a therapy session
Imaging and tests: an MRI · a CT scan · an ultrasound · an X-ray · blood tests
Procedures and courses of care: a colonoscopy · a birth · physical therapy · stitches and minor injuries
Routine and preventive: a dental visit · an eye exam · vaccines and shots
Transport: an ambulance ride
Questions people ask
Why don’t you publish prices?
Because we cannot source them. A national average applied to New York is not a fact about your bill, and quoting it back to a biller gets you nowhere. We publish the structure, the lever and the script instead.
What is the single biggest thing that changes a price?
Where the service is delivered. A hospital outpatient department adds a facility fee for work that a freestanding site bills without one.
What is a CPT code and why do I need it?
The five-character code for the specific service. Without it, every price you are quoted is about something slightly different.
I already got a bill and it is huge. What now?
Itemized bill first, then a financial assistance application, then a check of whether each component was billed correctly. The order of operations.
Where do I find a hospital’s real prices?
In its machine-readable price file, which every hospital is required to publish. How to read one.
In this section
What a Doctor Visit Costs Without Insurance in New York
A hospital-owned practice can add a facility fee to the same visit an independent office bills once. How to get a price first, and where income sets it.
What an Emergency Room Visit Actually Bills You For
One emergency room visit produces several bills: a facility fee set by acuity, a separate physician fee, and every lab and scan billed again.
What a Specialist Visit Costs, and the Referral That Decides It
A specialist visit costs more than primary care for reasons that are structural, not clinical. What a new-patient visit adds, what a facility fee does to it, and when a referral is required.
What Urgent Care Costs Without Insurance, and the Sign That Changes It
Two storefronts on the same block bill completely differently: one is an urgent care center, the other is a hospital emergency department annex. How to tell before you walk in.
What a Therapy Session Costs in New York
In New York, therapy at a state-licensed facility cannot cost you more than your plan's primary care copay. Session billing, sliding scales and superbills.
What an MRI Costs in New York, and Why It Varies So Much
The same scan is priced differently at a freestanding imaging center and a hospital outpatient department. What drives the difference and how to get the number before you go.
What a CT Scan Costs in New York, and the One Question That Changes It
A CT bill is a technical charge plus a radiologist's read, and the same scan is priced differently at a freestanding center and a hospital outpatient department. How to get the real number first.
What a Colonoscopy Costs, and the Rule That Makes a Screening Free
A screening colonoscopy is supposed to cost you nothing, including when a polyp is removed. Four bills come from one procedure, and one word on the order decides whether you pay.
What an Ultrasound Costs in New York
An ultrasound bill is a technical charge plus a radiologist's read, and the body part decides the code. Why the same study costs differently in an office and a hospital, and what to ask.
What Physical Therapy Costs, and Why the Course Matters More Than the Session
Physical therapy is billed in timed units, not per visit, so two sessions of the same length can cost differently. What a visit limit really means and how to price a full course.
What Blood Tests Cost, and Why the Draw and the Test Are Two Bills
One blood draw can produce charges from three companies. Which panel was ordered decides the price, where it is drawn decides whether a facility fee appears, and preventive rules can zero it out.
What an X-Ray Costs in New York
An X-ray is the cheapest imaging study and still produces two bills. Where it is taken decides the total, and the read arrives separately weeks later.
What an Ambulance Ride Costs, and Why the Number Is Not the Point
An ambulance bill is a base rate plus mileage plus supplies plus a service level you did not choose. What each line means, which ones are commonly wrong, and what New York lets you do about it.
What Childbirth Costs in New York: How the Bill Is Built
A delivery generates several separate bills — the mother's hospital account, the newborn's own account, anesthesia, and the physician. What to arrange before the due date.
What a Dental Visit Costs in New York
Dental is a separate system with its own insurance, its own annual maximum and its own vocabulary. What a cleaning actually includes, and why the plan runs out in October.
What an Eye Exam Costs, and Which Insurance Pays for It
A routine vision exam and a medical eye exam are different appointments billed to different insurance. Which one you booked decides who pays, and the glasses are a third question.
What Stitches and Minor Injuries Cost in New York
A cut billed at an emergency room and the same cut billed at urgent care are different orders of magnitude. What the repair code depends on and where the decision has to be made.
What Vaccines and Shots Cost in New York
Most vaccines are preventive care and are supposed to cost nothing on an insurance plan. Where you get one decides whether that holds, and children have a separate free program.
Sources
- CMS — Hospital Price Transparency (checked 2026-09-09)
- HealthCare.gov — preventive care benefits (checked 2026-09-09)
- NY Health Access — NYS Hospital Financial Assistance Law (checked 2026-09-09)
More in What It Costs: How Every Medical Bill in New York Is Assembled
- What a Dental Visit Costs in New York — Dental is a separate system with its own insurance, its own annual maximum and its own vocabulary. What a cleaning actually includes, and why the plan runs out in October.
- What an Eye Exam Costs, and Which Insurance Pays for It — A routine vision exam and a medical eye exam are different appointments billed to different insurance. Which one you booked decides who pays, and the glasses are a third question.
- What Stitches and Minor Injuries Cost in New York — A cut billed at an emergency room and the same cut billed at urgent care are different orders of magnitude. What the repair code depends on and where the decision has to be made.
This page explains how the system works. It is not medical advice. More.