What Aetna pays for imaging in California (2026)
What Aetna pays for imaging in California, 2026: Aetna's California medians run from $39 for a chest X-ray to $594 for a brain MRI without and with contrast, at doctors' offices and imaging centers in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Los Angeles. Aetna's median is more than 5% above the typical rate for six of 18 services and more than 5% below it for five, and within 5% for the rest. The typical rate is the middle of the medians of the insurers other than Anthem. From Aetna's published rate files.
| Service | Aetna | Typical (excl. Anthem) | Original Medicare |
|---|---|---|---|
| MRI | |||
| Lumbar spine MRI | $475 | $416 | $218 to $257 |
| Knee MRI | $487 | $434 | $234 to $277 |
| Shoulder MRI | $482 | $434 | $235 to $278 |
| Cervical spine MRI | $473 | $419 | $217 to $256 |
| Brain MRI | $482 | $431 | $223 to $262 |
| Brain MRI without and with contrast | $594 | $606 | $362 to $427 |
| CT scan | |||
| CT abdomen and pelvis with contrast | $412 | $450 | $345 to $409 |
| Head CT | $220 | $202 | $121 to $142 |
| Chest CT | $272 | $261 | $151 to $177 |
| Lung cancer screening CT | $185 | $206 | $155 to $182 |
| Ultrasound | |||
| Abdominal ultrasound | $162 | $164 | $130 to $154 |
| Pelvic ultrasound | $147 | $149 | $120 to $143 |
| First trimester ultrasound | $158 | $164 | $133 to $156 |
| Echocardiogram | $355 | $356 | $225 to $265 |
| Mammogram | |||
| Screening mammogram | $167 | $182 | $145 to $172 |
| Diagnostic mammogram | $205 | $225 | $180 to $213 |
| Other imaging | |||
| Chest X-ray | $39 | $43 | $38 to $45 |
| Bone density scan | $73 | $71 | $45 to $54 |
Aetna: the middle of its medians across San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Los Angeles. Typical (excl. Anthem): the middle of every insurer's area medians, leaving out Anthem's rate menu. Open a service for each area's median and range.
Aetna's price for your plan
Aetna has many contracts, and your plan uses one of them, set by your employer or, if you buy your own coverage, by the plan you chose. For a plan-specific estimate, sign in to Aetna's Find Care cost estimates. Arlo's free price transparency API and the Arlo MCP server return nearby in-network providers with their Aetna rates.
Where these numbers come from
Rates come from the price transparency files Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and Cigna publish. We clean the files before summarizing them and only show an insurer when enough providers report a rate. Medicare figures are from the 2026 Physician Fee Schedule. More on how these pages are built.