The Cost Guides
A practical library for the uninsured & underinsured: pay less, decode the bill, or skip the procedure entirely.
Contents
Before You Book
Should you even get the procedure?
Before You Book a Knee Replacement
Chronic Back Pain: Before You Fuse
Type 2 Diabetes Is Reversible
Do I Actually Need a Stent?
The Longevity Tests These Experts Actually Order
Before You Book Cataract Surgery in Austin
Price Decoders
What each line item actually pays for.
Hernia Surgery Cost, Line by Line
MRI Decoder: What Each Scan Actually Costs
Colonoscopy Cost, Unpacked
Having a Baby in Austin: All-In Cost
The Austin Price Spread Report
How to Pay the Least
Step-by-step playbooks from calling to paying.
The Phone Call That Saves $1,200
Why Ambulatory Surgery Centers Beat Hospitals
Bundled Pricing, and How to Ask for It
Direct Primary Care: $79/mo, Real Math
OTC Hearing Aids: The $4,000 Question
The $60 Blood Pressure Cuff Doing $600 of Work
OTC Glucose Monitors, Minus the Hype
Austin Hospital Charity Care: The Application Nobody Hands You
Ways to Pay a Medical Bill, Cheapest Money First
Where to Go, in Austin
Neighborhood shortlists + routing rules.
Where to Get Imaging in Austin, Cheapest First
Austin Dental, from $20 Cleanings Up
Therapy in Austin: $90 to $280
The $40 Sports Physical in Austin
Austin's Sliding-Scale Clinics: Who Qualifies, What You Pay
Insurance & Coverage
When cash beats insurance — and when it doesn’t.
After the Procedure
Bills, appeals, and what to double-check.
How to Appeal a Surprise Bill
Read Your EOB in 90 Seconds
Your Good Faith Estimate, and the $400 Dispute Rule
Free Scripts for Negotiating a Medical Bill
What Texas Billing Law Actually Gives You
About this library.
Every guide is written by a practicing clinician or billing specialist, reviewed by a second set of eyes, and revised quarterly against actual cash-pay prices in the Austin Metro. Footnotes cite primary sources. No sponsored placements.
- MarketCare Research Team
Cash-pay pricing & policy
- · Cited from primary sources
- · Revised quarterly
- · Affiliate-free guide text · partner picks live on Resources, disclosed
The Cost Guides
A practical library for the uninsured, underinsured, and merely curious. Playbooks for paying less, decoders for what you're paying for, decision trees for when not to pay at all.
Contents
Before You Book
Should you even get the procedure?
Before You Book a Knee Replacement
80% of knee-pain cases resolve without surgery. Here’s how to know if you’re in that 80.
Chronic Back Pain: Before You Fuse
Spinal fusion resolves pain in ~50% of patients. In randomized trials, structured rehab matches it, at a fraction of the cost.
Type 2 Diabetes Is Reversible
Half of recently-diagnosed T2D can reach remission. Here’s the 12-week protocol.
Do I Actually Need a Stent?
Stable-angina stents don’t extend life. When it’s useful, when it’s theater.
The Longevity Tests These Experts Actually Order
Nine of the most-followed longevity voices push dozens of tests. Only a handful have real evidence, and most are cheap cash buys in Austin. The honest, graded list.
Before You Book Cataract Surgery in Austin
The cost anatomy of Austin's most-searched surgery: why per-eye prices span 142%, and what to ask before you book.
Price Decoders
What each line item actually pays for.
Hernia Surgery Cost, Line by Line
A $17k hospital bill is really a surgeon, a facility, an anesthesiologist, and a drop cloth of fees.
MRI Decoder: What Each Scan Actually Costs
Same magnet, same tech, same 45 minutes. Austin cash prices swing 7×.
Colonoscopy Cost, Unpacked
Screening is free under the ACA. So why did you get a $4,500 bill?
Having a Baby in Austin: All-In Cost
From first prenatal to the delivery bill. 14 line items demystified.
The Austin Price Spread Report
In Austin, the median gap between a procedure's cheapest and priciest provider is 100% — double, for the exact same thing.
How to Pay the Least
Step-by-step playbooks from calling to paying.
The Phone Call That Saves $1,200
A 12-minute script to get cash-pay pricing that no one tells you about.
Why Ambulatory Surgery Centers Beat Hospitals
Same surgeons, fewer complications, often half the price. Here’s why.
Bundled Pricing, and How to Ask for It
One price for the whole procedure — surgeon, facility, anesthesia, post-op. A 3-step script.
Direct Primary Care: $79/mo, Real Math
Unlimited visits, no copays. When it saves money and when it doesn’t.
OTC Hearing Aids: The $4,000 Question
Since the FDA's 2022 rule, adults with perceived mild-to-moderate loss can skip the clinic bundle. Who that works for, who it doesn't, and the test to get first.
The $60 Blood Pressure Cuff Doing $600 of Work
Guidelines now want home readings, not just the number from one nervous office visit. The validated-device shortlist, the protocol, and when a watch ECG earns its keep.
OTC Glucose Monitors, Minus the Hype
CGMs went over-the-counter in 2024 for adults not on insulin. What two weeks of data actually tells you, what it costs, and when a $15 lab beats a $90 subscription.
Austin Hospital Charity Care: The Application Nobody Hands You
The tax code makes every nonprofit hospital publish a financial assistance policy. Austin's four systems set their top tier between 200% and 300% of the poverty level — and each one has a different deadline.
Ways to Pay a Medical Bill, Cheapest Money First
The best medical financing usually isn't a medical financing product. The order to work through — and the one mechanism you have to understand before you sign anything.
Where to Go, in Austin
Neighborhood shortlists + routing rules.
Where to Get Imaging in Austin, Cheapest First
Verified cash prices for standalone imaging, cheapest first, and why hospital outpatient is the gamble.
Austin Dental, from $20 Cleanings Up
Hygiene-school cleanings, cash-pay networks, and when to fly to Mexico.
Therapy in Austin: $90 to $280
Sliding scale, cash pay, grad-student clinics. A decision tree.
The $40 Sports Physical in Austin
Texas UIL requires a signed physical before kids play school sports — here's where Austin families get it done fast, from $40.
Austin's Sliding-Scale Clinics: Who Qualifies, What You Pay
Federal law makes community health centers price by your income, not by a menu. The three Austin FQHCs, the free clinic, the county program — and the 2026 cutoffs each one is indexed to.
Insurance & Coverage
When cash beats insurance — and when it doesn’t.
Cash vs Insurance: The Decision Tree
When cash wins, when insurance wins, when to lie-flat and not bill at all.
The HSA Playbook
Triple-tax-advantaged. The loophole nobody uses.
After the Procedure
Bills, appeals, and what to double-check.
How to Appeal a Surprise Bill
Four letters. One law (No Surprises Act). Two weeks. Works more often than not.
Read Your EOB in 90 Seconds
The "Explanation of Benefits" is designed to confuse. Six fields actually matter.
Your Good Faith Estimate, and the $400 Dispute Rule
Federal law owes self-pay patients a written price before they're treated. When the bill beats that estimate by $400, a free federal process decides what you actually owe — for a $25 fee.
Free Scripts for Negotiating a Medical Bill
Contingency negotiators take a cut of whatever they save you. The moves they make aren't secret — here they are as templates, by bill type, in the order that matters.
What Texas Billing Law Actually Gives You
The state balance-billing ban reaches about 16% of Texans. Two other Texas rights — the itemized bill and the five-day facility estimate — reach everyone, including cash patients.
About this library.
Every guide is written and maintained by the MarketCare research team, fact-checked against primary sources, and revised as cash-pay prices change in the Austin Metro. Footnotes cite primary sources. No sponsored placements.
- MarketCare Research Team · Cash-pay pricing & policy
- · Cited from primary sources
- · Revised quarterly
- · Affiliate-free guide text · partner picks live on Resources, disclosed