Are Medical Tests More Costly in Manatee Than Sarasota?

The cost for an MRI averages $270 more in Bradenton and other Manatee County communities than it does in Sarasota County.

That difference is underscored by New Choice Health, a private company that collects data and encourages people to become smarter health-care consumers.

People with health care insurance may not be used to price shopping, like they would for other big-ticket items, such as new vehicles or appliances.

But there are differences that can run into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars. 

Manatee County seems to fare better than the state, on average, when it comes to costly diagnostic tests that many people will undergo in their lifetime.

But Manatee consumers tend to pay more on average for some big-ticket diagnostic tests examined by Patch than their neighbors in Sarasota County.

• For example, the average price for a colonoscopy in Manatee is $2,560  compared to $2,460 in Sarasota.
• CT scans average $2,210 in Manatee, while they average $1,750 in Sarasota.

These differences have been in the news lately: As the Washington Post wrote on Wednesday, "One hospital charges $8,000 - another $38,000."

Those higher costs end up being passed along to consumers in the form of higher insurance premiums.

Patch worked with New Choice Health to examine the cost of four well-known procedures in Patch communities across the country and found disparities for CT scans, colonoscopies, MRIs and mammograms.

The prices from the New Choice Health marketplace reflect the “list price” for these procedures – kind of like the sticker price on a car. Health insurance companies often end up getting different discounts and reimbursements depending on the arrangements they have worked out with providers.

But the point, says New Choice’s Brad Myers, is to give consumers the information they need to negotiate for themselves and make informed decisions when it comes to paying for their healthcare.

Looking at the data, some trends seem to emerge. Often the communities with the well-known medical research centers seem to be some of the most expensive places to have procedures done – or they at least go higher on the high-end of costs.

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