By Dr. Mark Bekhit, Radiologist · Last updated September 2026
The quick answer
Short answer: A CT scan can cost $0 when it is bulk billed. If Medicare applies but the clinic charges a fee, your gap is the clinic fee minus the Medicare benefit. Without a Medicare benefit, the standard self-funded pathway uses the clinic’s full private fee; other funding programs can differ. There is no single national CT price. In 2023–24 government data, 93% paid nothing for one brain CT item; gap-paying patients typically paid $180 for that exact item.
About 85 of every 100 Medicare-billed CT services were bulk billed nationally in the June quarter of 2025–26. This excludes CT services without a Medicare benefit. It does not predict one clinic’s billing decision.
On this page
- How much does a CT scan cost in Australia?
- What do most people actually pay?
- What changes the price you are quoted?
- Does Medicare cover your CT scan?
- Will private health insurance pay for a CT scan?
- How to get a clear CT quote before you book
- Finding a CT clinic near you
- How we know: sources and method
How much does a CT scan cost in Australia?
There is no single national CT price. Diagnostic imaging clinics set their own fees, so the number on your quote depends on two things: whether Medicare pays a benefit for your scan, and whether the clinic bulk bills. Your pathway decides which of the outcomes below applies to you.
See current Medicare fee examples
Medicare only pays a benefit when your CT matches a listed item on the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and you have a valid request. For an out-of-hospital scan, the usual benefit is 85% of the Schedule fee. These figures are not clinic prices.
MBS Schedule fees and 85% benefits are current as at July 2026. A clinic can charge more than the Schedule fee.
If your GP has mentioned a brain MRI instead of a CT, our brain MRI cost guide explains which head scans a GP can request under Medicare and what they cost.
For a lower-back or neck scan, our spine CT and MRI cost guide explains why a GP’s lower-back request is a CT rather than an MRI, and what each spine scan costs.
Good to know: bulk billing a CT is the clinic’s choice, not an automatic right. The extra incentive for bulk-billed diagnostic imaging applies to patients under 16 and Commonwealth concession card holders. It does not require a clinic to bulk bill. Ask about your exact scan before you book.
What do most people actually pay?
The Schedule fee is not the same as your bill. The Australian Government’s Medical Costs Finder reports what patients were actually charged, using 2023–24 Medicare claims for out-of-hospital scans. Each result applies to one item and one patient group. It does not create a current national CT price.
Read those figures carefully. The percentage is the share of all patients who had no out-of-pocket cost for that item. The dollar figure is the typical payment among only the people who did pay a gap — not an average across everyone, and not a quote for your scan. For example, 93% of patients paid nothing for a CT of the brain, and the rest typically paid about $180; for a CT of the abdomen and pelvis, 91% paid nothing and those who paid typically paid about $195. Even for a CT pulmonary angiogram, 83% paid nothing. A CT coronary angiogram had the lowest no-cost rate, at 77%, where those who paid typically paid about $200.
What changes the price you are quoted?
Start with the exact scan written on your request. “CT” is a family of MBS items, not one product with one price, and three things move the number.
Contrast. An injection of iodine-containing contrast can change the MBS item. In the examples above, the Schedule fee is higher for chest and upper-abdomen-and-pelvis CT with contrast than without contrast.
Which body parts are scanned. The MBS uses different items for different examinations. For example, a combined upper abdomen and pelvis with contrast has a different Schedule fee from a chest CT. Compare quotes only when they cover the same requested examination.
Whether a Medicare item matches. Medicare pays a benefit only when the requested examination meets an MBS item and its conditions. Ask the clinic which item it expects to use. A request does not by itself confirm a Medicare benefit.
A CT uses X-rays, a form of ionising radiation. The examination, clinical indication, requester and item conditions determine whether an MBS item matches. The clinic decides its fee and whether to bulk bill, so two clinics can quote different amounts for the same request.
Does Medicare cover your CT scan?
Medicare contributes when your scan matches an MBS item and you have a valid request from a doctor. Unlike most MRI scans, which need a specialist request, a GP’s referral is enough for the common CT scans — brain, chest, abdomen and pelvis, or spine. A few CT studies are restricted: CT coronary angiography must be requested by a specialist or consultant physician, and CT colonography has its own request conditions.
Having an eligible item and a valid request establishes that a benefit is payable. It does not decide whether you pay a gap — that is the clinic’s billing choice. If your request is for a plain X-ray rather than a CT, our X-ray cost guide has the item fees and how often patients paid nothing. For which scans Medicare covers across the different modalities, see our guide to Medicare-eligible scans by modality, and for who can request each test, our guide to referrals for an X-ray, ultrasound or CT. Our bulk-billed radiology guide explains the billing model across all imaging.
Will private health insurance pay?
For a CT done as an outpatient — the usual way — private health insurance does not help. By law, insurers cannot cover out-of-hospital medical services, including diagnostic imaging. Under the standard Medicare pathway, you pay any gap after the Medicare benefit. Other funding programs can have different rules.
Insurance matters only when you are admitted to hospital as a private patient. For a covered scan during a private admission, Medicare pays 75% of the MBS fee and the insurer at least the remaining 25%. A fee charged above the MBS amount, and any excess your policy applies, remain out of pocket. To weigh the settings, use our checklist for choosing between a public hospital and a private radiology clinic.
No Medicare card? Visitors, international students and other temporary visa holders pay the clinic’s whole fee rather than a gap. Our guide to scan costs without Medicare shows what a CT costs then, what Overseas Student Health Cover pays back, and which visitors are covered after all.
How to get a clear CT quote before you book
A quote that says only “the CT is $400” hides the number that matters. It might be the full fee before Medicare, the gap after Medicare, or a private fee with no benefit at all. Have your request in front of you and ask the clinic for the details in writing.
Ask the clinic when you book
✓ “Do you bulk bill this CT for me, so I pay nothing?”
✓ “If not, what is the total fee, the Medicare benefit, and my gap after Medicare?”
✓ “Do I pay the full amount on the day and claim the benefit back?”
✓ “Is contrast, or any second scan, charged separately — and how much?”
✓ “Which MBS item number will you claim?”
A written estimate that names the likely MBS item, the total fee, the Medicare benefit, the amount payable on the day and your final out-of-pocket cost lets you compare clinics on the number you actually pay. Compare the final gap, not one clinic’s upfront fee against another’s after-Medicare figure. You can take your request to any clinic that offers the scan, even if the form names a particular practice.
Finding a CT clinic near you
Once you know what to ask, the next step is a shortlist of clinics you can reach. Start with the national radiology clinic directory, or go straight to CT clinics in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or Perth. Each listing has the contact details you need to use the quote questions above.
Pick two clinics, give each the same request, and compare the final amount you would pay alongside the appointment time and travel. If you are still deciding between tests, our guide to MRI versus CT explains which answers which question, and our MRI cost guide covers the equivalent numbers for MRI.
Sources and methodology
Sources and methodology
The dollar examples come from Australian Government data, not clinic surveys. Schedule fees and item descriptions were read from MBS Online and are current as at July 2026; the “what people paid” figures are the Australian Government Medical Costs Finder’s 2023–24 out-of-hospital national data. Those two vintages answer different questions — the statutory fee versus what patients were actually charged — and are kept separate throughout.
- MBS Online: current CT item descriptions and Schedule fees for 56001, 56007, 56301, 56307, 56501, 56507, 56223, 57357, 57360 and 56553
- MBS Online: bulk-billing incentive note IN.0.19 (95% benefit for bulk-billed imaging)
- Medical Costs Finder: 2023–24 out-of-pocket data for CT brain, CT chest with contrast, CT abdomen and pelvis, CT pulmonary angiogram and CT coronary angiogram
- Medical Costs Finder: guide to costs and written estimates
- Services Australia: medical costs and the 85%/75% benefit
- Services Australia: screening, tests and scans covered by Medicare
- Services Australia: bulk-billing incentive eligibility
- Department of Health: diagnostic imaging fees and bulk billing
- Department of Health: what private health insurance covers, and hospital cover and product tiers and out-of-pocket costs
- healthdirect: paying for diagnostic testing, CT scan and how do I pay for healthcare
- InsideRadiology (RANZCR): computed tomography and iodine-containing contrast medium
This article is general information, not personal medical advice. Discuss your individual report and next steps with the healthcare professional responsible for your care.
Author: Dr. Mark Bekhit
Dr Mark Bekhit (MBChB, FRANZCR) is a musculoskeletal radiologist practising in Brisbane and an AHPRA-registered specialist in diagnostic radiology (MED0002920947). He spends as much time building software as reading scans: he founded Imaging Finder (Australia) and Radiology Clinics NZ to make imaging easier to find, and builds radiology dictation and pain-tracking tools with one aim — better patient outcomes and a smoother reporting workflow. Outside the reading room he's usually training, bringing the same performance mindset to imaging.
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