With insurance, a PET scan typically costs between $183 and $319 out of pocket, depending on where you get it done. Without insurance, the full price ranges from $3,000 to $6,000 or more. Your actual cost depends on your plan type, whether you’ve met your deductible, and whether the scan happens at a hospital or a freestanding imaging center.
Typical Out-of-Pocket Costs by Plan Type
The national average cost for a PET scan at an outpatient facility is about $920, while the same scan at a hospital outpatient department averages $1,599. Your share of that amount depends entirely on your insurance plan’s structure.
With Original Medicare, you pay 20% coinsurance after meeting the annual Part B deductible ($283 in 2025). That works out to roughly $183 at a freestanding imaging center or $319 at a hospital outpatient facility. Medicare Advantage plans often work differently, charging a flat copay (typically $50 to $100) for diagnostic imaging instead of a percentage.
Private insurance plans vary more widely. Most cover PET scans as diagnostic imaging and apply your plan’s coinsurance rate after you’ve met your deductible. A common structure is 20% coinsurance for in-network providers and 50% for out-of-network providers. On a $920 scan, 20% coinsurance means $184 out of pocket. On a $1,599 hospital scan, that jumps to $320.
What Happens If You Haven’t Met Your Deductible
If you’re on a high-deductible health plan and haven’t met your deductible yet, you could owe the full negotiated rate for the scan. High-deductible plans require you to pay all costs up to the deductible amount before the plan starts sharing expenses. With individual deductibles commonly running $1,500 to $3,000 or more, a PET scan early in the year could mean paying the entire insurer-negotiated price out of pocket. Once you cross that deductible threshold, your plan kicks in and you pay only your coinsurance percentage.
This is why timing matters. If you’ve already had other medical expenses that year and your deductible is mostly satisfied, you’ll pay far less for a PET scan than someone whose deductible is untouched.
Hospital vs. Freestanding Imaging Center
Where you get the scan makes a significant difference. Hospital outpatient PET scans average $1,599 nationally, while freestanding imaging centers average $920 for the same scan. That’s a 74% markup at the hospital. Freestanding centers specialize in medical imaging and aren’t tied to a specific hospital system, which keeps their overhead lower.
If your insurance plan gives you a choice of facility, asking for a referral to a freestanding center can cut your out-of-pocket share nearly in half. Not all areas have freestanding centers with PET scan equipment, but it’s worth checking before you schedule.
Prior Authorization Can Make or Break Coverage
Most insurance plans require prior authorization before they’ll cover a PET scan. Your doctor’s office typically handles this by submitting documentation showing the scan is medically necessary, usually for cancer staging, treatment monitoring, or evaluating certain cardiac or neurological conditions.
If you skip this step or the authorization is denied and you get the scan anyway, your plan can reject the entire claim. That leaves you responsible for the full cost, potentially $3,000 to $6,000 or more. Before scheduling, confirm with your insurance company that authorization has been approved, and get that confirmation in writing or with a reference number.
Separate Bills You Might Not Expect
A PET scan often generates more than one bill. The facility charges for the use of the scanner and the radioactive tracer injected before the scan. A radiologist then reads and interprets the images, which may come as a separate “professional fee.” Both charges go through your insurance, but they can arrive weeks apart and from different billing departments. If you’re budgeting for the scan, ask the facility upfront whether the radiologist fee is included in their quote or billed separately.
How to Get an Accurate Price Quote
When calling facilities or your insurance company for a price estimate, having the correct billing code makes the conversation much more productive. The most common PET scan codes are 78815 for a scan from the skull to mid-thigh and 78816 for a whole-body scan. Brain-specific PET scans use code 78608, and cardiac PET scans use 78429 or 78431. Your doctor’s order will specify which type you need.
Call your insurance company’s member services line with the code in hand and ask three things: whether the scan requires prior authorization, what your cost share will be at an in-network facility, and whether you’ve met enough of your deductible for the plan to start paying its portion. Then call the imaging facility directly and ask for a patient estimate using the same code. Comparing quotes from a hospital and a freestanding center, if both are in-network, can save you hundreds of dollars.