Breathing treatment cost in Portland, ME
In Portland-South Portland, ME, 6 hospitals list a cash price for breathing treatment (nebulizer or inhaler) for airway obstruction: from $93.45 to $262.35, with a median of $131.30. The lowest listed price is at MaineHealth — $37.85 less than the median here. Across Maine, the median is $181.77 at 20 hospitals.
Cash prices at 6 facilities across 5 cities for code 94640, as an outpatient — the setting a self-pay patient normally buys. Collected Sep 23, 2026; the hospital files themselves were last updated between Aug 12, 2025 and Sep 9, 2025.
Where each hospital's price falls
Each dot is one hospital's cash price on a scale from the lowest to the highest in Portland-South Portland, ME.
Hospitals, cheapest first
| Hospital | Cash price | List price | Insurers pay | Off list | File date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MaineHealth lowest Portland, ME · (207) 662-0111 CDU HC INHALATION RX W/ DEVICE | $93.45 | $93.45 | $68.74–$894.13 | — | Sep 9, 2025 source file |
| MaineHealth Biddeford, ME CDU HC INHALATION RX W/ DEVICE | $103.35 | $103.35 | $76.02–$894.13 | — | Sep 9, 2025 source file |
| MaineHealth Biddeford, ME HC AIRWAY INHALATION TREATMENT W/DEVICE | $103.35 | $103.35 | $76.02–$894.13 | — | Sep 9, 2025 source file |
| MaineHealth Portland, ME · (207) 662-0111 HC AIRWAY INHALATION TREATMENT W/DEVICE | $104.90 | $104.90 | $77.16–$894.13 | — | Sep 9, 2025 source file |
| MaineHealth Westbrook, ME HC AIRWAY INHALATION TREATMENT W/DEVICE | $108.40 | $108.40 | $91.71–$196.85 | — | Aug 12, 2025 source file |
| York Hospital York, ME · (207) 351-2478 NONPRESSURIZED INHALATION | $154.20 | $257.00 | — | 40% | — source file |
| Mercy Hospital Portland, ME AIRWAY INHALATION TRMNT | $235.82 | $907.00 | $484.34–$691.13 | 74% | — source file |
| Mercy Hospital Portland, ME HC SPUTUM INDUCTION | $235.82 | $907.00 | $484.34–$691.13 | 74% | — source file |
| Mercy Hospital Portland, ME NEBULIZER TREATMENT/ MD | $235.82 | $907.00 | $484.34–$691.13 | 74% | — source file |
| Mercy Hospital Portland, ME AIRWAY INHALATION TREATMENT | $235.82 | $907.00 | $484.34–$691.13 | 74% | — source file |
| Mercy Hospital Portland, ME RH AIRWAY INHALATION TRMNT | $235.82 | $907.00 | $484.34–$691.13 | 74% | — source file |
| Mercy Hospital Portland, ME HC AIRWAY INHALATION TREATMENT | $235.82 | $907.00 | $484.34–$691.13 | 74% | — source file |
| York Hospital York, ME · (207) 351-2478 AIRWAY INHALATION TREATMENT | $253.80 | $423.00 | — | 40% | — source file |
| MaineHealth Brunswick, ME · (207) 729-0181 HC AIRWAY INHALATION TREATMENT W/DEVICE | $262.35 | $262.35 | $185.22–$710.42 | — | Sep 9, 2025 source file |
| York Hospital York, ME · (207) 351-2478 WELLS EMERGENT CARE MININEB | $391.20 | $652.00 | — | 40% | — source file |
| York Hospital York, ME · (207) 351-2478 MININEB TREATMENT | $391.20 | $652.00 | — | 40% | — source file |
| York Hospital York, ME · (207) 351-2478 MDI / NEB TREATMENT | $391.20 | $652.00 | — | 40% | — source file |
Outpatient: lowest $93.45, median $131.30, highest $262.35 — a 2.8× difference within the same market.
As an inpatient, the same code is billed by 6 facilities here, median $131.30. Inpatient and outpatient prices are not comparable and are kept on separate pages: the inpatient charge covers admission, not the same purchase.
Cash or insurance?
At 5 of 5 hospitals that publish insurer rates for this code here, the cash price is below the highest rate a health plan has negotiated, and at 1 it is below every plan's rate. If you have insurance but have not met your deductible, you usually pay your plan's negotiated rate, which falls somewhere in the "Insurers pay" column. Paying cash can cost less, but a cash payment usually does not count toward your deductible. Ask the hospital for both numbers before you book.
What it is
A breathing treatment delivers medicine such as albuterol through a nebulizer or inhaler to open the airways during an asthma or COPD flare.
What the price covers
The price is for one treatment. Repeated treatments in one visit can each be billed, and the medicine may be billed separately.
1 row held back from this comparison
It is priced below $1 or below a tenth of the national median for code 94640 ($173.50). Such a line is almost always a physician's fee billed separately, an assistant's share or a placeholder — a real charge, but not the price of the procedure itself.
| MaineHealth Portland, MEPR PRESSURIZED/NONPRESSURIZED INHALATION TREATMENT | $15.40 | file |