Huffington Post 2-27-2012

“The lab your doctor sends you to takes your insurance card and you assume that’s that — it’s all covered. But it isn’t always,” Belk said.

He offers another example, of a doctor friend who needed an MRI of his knee. Billing for MRIs are generally in the $2,000 range, he said. “Why on earth should it be that much? Imaging centers will do it as low as $350. But they’ll bill $800 knowing Medicare pays about $500. All it is is a fancy picture.” The maintenance contract on the MRI machine is the real expense — $50,000 to $100,000 a year. Most companies that make the machines make the real money off the maintenance contract, he said.”