Total knee — implant, OR, a couple of nights, PT in the hospital.
Your cash sticker$34,311
Typical commercial / insured$56,172
Medicare-like yardstick$17,664
Rack rate if you have no deal$78,640
Insured markup on this quote: $21,861 (64%) above cash. Quality score 70/100 at California Community Hospital (model). This episode is tagged modeled from anchors.
Full-service community hospital (model). The default local option.
Evidence on this page. Commercial prices vs Medicare, by state · Knee / hip implant cost · Cash menus beat insured allowed amounts — when they exist — see the evidence ledger. Hospitals are archetypes (academic / community / ASC), not named facilities. Coastal flagships: wage + bargaining power, not just ‘better care.’