It’s true not many people actually like going to the hospital. The plethora of excuses given as to why it’s despised ranges from the smell to the fact most people go to a hospital when they need medical attention. However, while most excuses may be well founded, they pale in comparison to the sky high costs of a hospital visit.

While some illness and injuries are severe enough where a hospital visit is needed, the disparity between what it cost to receive treatment at a hospital rather than at a private practice is somewhat alarming.

“Hospitals are more expensive since you spend more time,” Mary Hood, a private practice podiatrist in Libertyville, Illinois, said.

Charging a patient is more complicated than it seems if you’re a doctor, and this is because of the different factors in which a patient is charged at a hospital. While how much time is spent with a patient is one the most important factors, the type of insurance used is arguably more important than time.

There are different types of health insurance companies which doctors deal with on a daily basis, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, but Medicare is the most common as a national insurance program.

This is significant when it comes down to deciding the cost of a treatment or procedure, as the government decides how much specific operations cost under Medicare.

“It’s illegal to charge more than what medicare sets,” Hood said. “The other issues with the other companies, we have to individually contract with those companies. Within themselves, they have their own pay schedule, but it’s generally higher than Medicare.”

This can be seen when comparing Medicare payments to average total payments in Medicare’s inpatient prospective payment system database.

The average cost for a patient getting surgical treatment for an infection with Medicare in the Chicagoland area hospitals is $41,853.97, while the average cost for a patient using other forms of insurance for the same treatment is $43,739.46.

Comparison of the average total payment for treatment of an infectious or parasitic disease by surgery. The three hospitals include two from the immediate Chicagoland area, and the other from a suburb of Chicago.

Although the difference may not seem high, these prices also include hospital room fees, costs for hospital food and other costs. This is where private practices differ immensely from emergency room and hospital visits.

“You’re a doctor’s office on a really small basic charge,” Hood said. “Versus, if you walk into the ER you get emergency room fee, emergency room doctor’s fee, the antibiotic and all the other treatment fees.”

According to Hood, a simple ingrown toenail procedure through Medicare at her private practice costs $193, while at a hospital through Blue Cross Blue Shield, the same procedure cost would be $475.

Unadjusted Median Healthcare Costs of Staphylococcus aureus Infections. This table compares costs for treatment for people as an inpatient (hospital) and outpatient (private practice).

Through private practices, procedures and visits don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Of course, if a person’s medical condition requires extra attention they must to go to a hospital over private practice, who can only offer so many treatments.

However, for basic treatments, pay your local physician a visit first.

“If they choose to go to the emergency room, it’s $500 just to walk in the door,” Hood said. “But, the treatment is still the same.”