Compare a charge with Medicare's rate for one service
check_priceCompare a charge with Medicare's rate for one service. For when someone asks whether a charge is high or what Medicare pays, for example "I was charged $450 for a 99213 office visit in Texas, is that too high?" or "what does Medicare pay for an MRI of the knee?". Takes the billing code if they have it, otherwise the service in plain words as q. Returns Medicare's 2026 rate for the state (or the city's own pricing area when city is given) in medicare_2026, the amount providers typically billed in 2024, and how many times the Medicare rate the charge is. For care in a hospital, hospital_facility_2026 gives Medicare's national rate for the hospital's own facility fee and comparison.compared_with says what the charge was set against. Dental work has no Medicare rate and returns 404 with a pointer to a free dental cost source.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| q | No | The service in plain words, used when there is no code, like "knee MRI" or "ER visit". | |
| city | No | City, for states where Medicare pays big cities differently, like Houston, Chicago, Miami or Los Angeles. Other places use the rest-of-state rate. | |
| code | No | Five-character CPT or HCPCS code from the bill, like 99213, 73721 or G0121. | |
| state | No | US state name or two-letter code, like Texas or TX. Med Bill Check is for US bills; a UK place gets a short answer pointing to UK sources. | |
| charged | No | The amount on the bill in US dollars, like 450. | |
| setting | No | Setting: office (clinic, office, imaging center) or facility (hospital or surgery center). Leave out to use the usual setting. | |
| billed_by | No | Whose bill the charge is on when the service was in a hospital: hospital (the hospital's own facility charge) or doctor (the doctor's or physician group's bill). Leave out if not known: the charge is then compared with both together. |