Abdominal ultrasound cost in San Jose (2026): what Aetna, Anthem, Blue Shield, UnitedHealthcare and Cigna pay
Abdominal ultrasound cost in San Jose, 2026: in the San Jose area, insurers pay a typical $164 for an abdominal ultrasound at doctors' offices and imaging centers. By insurer, the typical office rate runs from $152 (Blue Shield of California) to $212 (Cigna). Original Medicare's rate is $154 here. Rates from five insurers' published files, for providers within 20 miles of downtown San Jose.
What each insurer pays
| Insurer | Offices and imaging centers median, middle half | Billing entities |
|---|---|---|
| Anthem Blue Cross | $189 $151 to $251 | 363 |
| Blue Shield of California | $152 $137 to $212 | 123 |
| Aetna | $163 $137 to $203 | 182 |
| UnitedHealthcare | $165 $137 to $231 | 161 |
| Cigna | $212 $160 to $277 | 156 |
| Original Medicare | $154 | - |
Anthem Blue Cross figures reflect the menu of rates Anthem lists across its contracts, not contract-specific prices (why). Kaiser Permanente is not listed. Most Kaiser care is prepaid inside its own system, and it does not publish usable per-service rates.
Anthem Blue Cross negotiated rate for an abdominal ultrasound in San Jose
Across 363 billing entities in the San Jose area, the middle of Anthem's rate menu for an abdominal ultrasound at offices and imaging centers is $189, and the middle half of those values runs from $151 to $251. That office median is 1.2 times what Original Medicare pays. Anthem lists the same menu of rates under nearly every contract, so these figures show the middle of that menu, not the rate a specific provider is paid. For your plan's exact price, use Anthem's Find Care and cost estimates.
Blue Shield of California negotiated rate for an abdominal ultrasound in San Jose
Blue Shield of California pays a median of $152 for an abdominal ultrasound at offices and imaging centers in the San Jose area, with the middle half of 123 billing entities between $137 and $212. That office median is slightly below what Original Medicare pays. For your plan's exact price, use Blue Shield's Treatment Cost Estimator.
Aetna negotiated rate for an abdominal ultrasound in San Jose
Aetna pays a median of $163 for an abdominal ultrasound at offices and imaging centers in the San Jose area, with the middle half of 182 billing entities between $137 and $203. That office median is 1.1 times what Original Medicare pays. For your plan's exact price, use Aetna's Find Care cost estimates.
UnitedHealthcare negotiated rate for an abdominal ultrasound in San Jose
UnitedHealthcare pays a median of $165 for an abdominal ultrasound at offices and imaging centers in the San Jose area, with the middle half of 161 billing entities between $137 and $231. That office median is 1.1 times what Original Medicare pays. For your plan's exact price, use UnitedHealthcare's price transparency tool.
Cigna negotiated rate for an abdominal ultrasound in San Jose
Cigna pays a median of $212 for an abdominal ultrasound at offices and imaging centers in the San Jose area, with the middle half of 156 billing entities between $160 and $277. That office median is 1.4 times what Original Medicare pays. For your plan's exact price, use the myCigna cost estimator (sign in).
About an abdominal ultrasound
A complete ultrasound of the abdomen, covering the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, pancreas, kidneys, spleen, aorta and inferior vena cava. It is often ordered for upper abdominal pain or abnormal liver tests. Billing code: CPT 76700.
What the price covers
- Rates here are for the whole service billed as one charge: the scan and the radiologist's reading.
- A limited ultrasound of one area, such as the gallbladder when gallstones are suspected, is a different code (CPT 76705) with a lower price.
What you would actually pay
The negotiated rate is the total the provider is paid. Your share depends on your plan. If you have not met your deductible, you usually pay the whole negotiated rate: at a $164 rate, that is $164. Once the deductible is met, coinsurance applies: at 20% coinsurance you would pay $33 and the insurer the rest. Plans with a flat copay for this service charge the copay instead.
Going out of network is different. The provider has no agreed rate with your insurer, so they can usually bill their full listed price. Federal and California law limit that in emergencies and for some out-of-network clinicians at in-network hospitals.
Paying without insurance
The rates on this page are what insurers pay in network, not cash prices. If you are paying yourself, they are still a useful benchmark: ask the provider for its self-pay price before you book and compare it with these rates and with Original Medicare's $154 for an abdominal ultrasound in San Jose. Many freestanding imaging centers post cash prices for scans. Hospitals must publish a discounted cash price under federal price transparency rules, and if you are uninsured or paying yourself, the No Surprises Act entitles you to a written good faith estimate before scheduled care.
Get the price for your exact plan
An insurer has many contracts, and each plan uses one of them. The figures on this page cover all of an insurer's contracts in the area. The price for your plan depends on which one applies, and that is set by your employer or the plan name on your insurance card.
Your insurer's own cost tool gives a plan-specific estimate once you sign in:
- Anthem Blue Cross: Anthem's Find Care and cost estimates
- Blue Shield of California: Blue Shield's Treatment Cost Estimator
- Aetna: Aetna's Find Care cost estimates
- UnitedHealthcare: UnitedHealthcare's price transparency tool
- Cigna: the myCigna cost estimator (sign in)
AI assistants can look it up too. Arlo's free price transparency API and the Arlo MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT take a service, a ZIP code and a plan, and return nearby in-network providers with their negotiated 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, for providers within 20 miles of downtown San Jose. 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.
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