I have a heart attack
Hospitalization for an acute myocardial infarction.
Typical US price before insurance
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).
⚠️ This figure is from 2018 and is the most recent COMMERCIAL price published anywhere — we looked hard and there is no newer one. Real prices have risen since. For scale: Medicare paid an average of $12,478 for the same admission in 2024 (facility only, CMS). Commercial prices typically run 2–2.5x Medicare, but we will not multiply those together and present the result as a fact.
Medicare average total payment, 2024 (facility only, DRG 280–282). A different measure and a different population — shown for scale, not as what your insurer would pay. Source: CMS.
What you'd actually pay
Where you live
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.