Rapid strep test cost in New Jersey

In New Jersey, 48 hospitals publish a cash price for rapid strep A antigen test from a throat swab, read visually: from $10.50 to $301.00, with a median of $18.18. The lowest price is at Virtua Memorial Hospital (Mount Holly) and 4 other hospitals. The highest price is 28.7× the lowest.

• The median here, $18.18, is 69% below the US median of $59.00.
• That is 1.1× Medicare's 2026 national rate for the same service ($16.53).
• New Jersey has the lowest median of 50 states with at least 5 hospitals pricing this code.
• 8 of 48 hospitals list a cash price equal to their full list price, with no self-pay discount.

Why New Jersey prices look low: under state law (P.L.2008, c.60), a hospital may not charge an uninsured New Jersey resident whose family income is below 500% of the federal poverty level more than 115% of what Medicare pays for the same service. If that is you, ask the hospital's billing office to apply this limit; a separate physician fee may still apply. Other states' laws.

Outpatient cash prices, one line per hospital — its lowest listed price for code 87880. Prices for both sides of the body and inpatient prices are not mixed in. Collected Nov 11, 2026. See them on a map