US Health Care Costs

Heart attack, with complications in Kentucky

MS-DRG 281: Acute myocardial infarction, discharged alive with cc

$40,952typical hospital bill
$6,996typical amount paid
$6,042–$9,160range paid across 21 hospitals

Kentucky hospitals billed Medicare a typical $40,952 for this stay in 2024, about 5.9 times what was actually paid. Medicare's payment depends mostly on the hospital's location and teaching role; the bill depends on the hospital's own price list, so bills vary far more than payments.

Billed (list price)Actually paid (Medicare + patient)

HospitalCityMedicare staysBilledPaid
Baptist Health LouisvilleLouisville33$57,915$6,042
Saint Joseph LondonLondon14$38,078$6,127
Baptist Health HardinElizabethtown11$37,152$6,135
Mercy Health - Lourdes HospitalPaducah12$42,652$6,496
King's Daughters' Medical CenterAshland33$26,426$6,563
Baptist Health LexingtonLexington18$53,209$6,687
St Elizabeth EdgewoodEdgewood24$31,656$6,735
Hazard Arh Regional Medical CenterHazard13$49,553$6,840
Saint Joseph HospitalLexington21$31,113$6,947
T J Samson Community HospitalGlasgow14$18,231$6,975
Baptist Health CorbinCorbin25$48,533$6,996
Norton Hospitals, IncLouisville51$48,907$7,072
Lake Cumberland Regional HospitalSomerset26$64,957$7,126
The Medical Center (bowling Green)Bowling Green31$27,115$7,253
Baptist Health RichmondRichmond11$39,555$7,416
Murray-Calloway County HospitalMurray20$42,304$7,540
Uofl Health - Jewish Hospital and Mary & Elizabeth HospitalLouisville28$32,967$7,649
Tristar Greenview Regional HospitalBowling Green12$67,178$7,822
Owensboro Health Regional HospitalOwensboro29$28,382$8,005
Pikeville Medical CenterPikeville15$46,547$8,441
University of Kentucky HospitalLexington19$40,952$9,160

Medicare: CMS, 2024 (hospitals with 11 or more Medicare stays). Cash and insurer prices: hospitals' own price files, where read; insurer figures are commercial plans only, median and 10th–90th percentile across plans.