X-Ray, MRI and Ultrasound Cost in Canada Without Insurance
What Visitors, Newcomers and Students Pay per Scan

1What a Scan Costs Without Coverage: The Short Version

If you are not covered by a provincial health plan, a Canadian hospital charges you its own rate for every test. Visitors to Canada pay the highest rate, called the non-resident rate. Canadian residents who are not yet covered, for example during a waiting period, are often charged a lower rate. Either way, you pay the whole bill yourself unless you have insurance.

Imaging is billed per exam, on top of any emergency visit or hospital stay. Here is what the published government rate sheets say a visitor pays for one exam.

Non-resident of Canada rates, in Canadian dollars, hospital fee only. BC: Interior Health schedule effective April 1, 2026, the same rate at every BC health authority. Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Health, Hospital Fees for Out-of-Country Visitors, 2026. The radiologist's fee is extra.

The other provinces do not publish one price list. In Ontario, each hospital sets its own rate. Two Toronto-area and Niagara examples are in the next section.

2X-Ray, Ultrasound, CT and MRI Prices by Province

British Columbia is the clearest case. Its health authorities, "in cooperation with the Ministry of Health Services", agreed on the same non-resident rates across the province. The Interior Health schedule shows two prices for each exam: one for Canadian residents without coverage, and a higher one for non-residents of Canada.

Interior Health, Fees and Charges Schedule, Acute Care Billing, effective April 1, 2026. Doctors' fees are not included.

Note the last row. In BC, the emergency visit rate already includes the X-rays and basic tests done during that visit. A CT or MRI is added on top. So a visitor seen in a BC emergency department who needs a CT scan pays at least $1,015 plus $2,215, before any doctor bills.

In Ontario, there is no provincial price list for visitors. Each hospital publishes its own, and the doctor's fees are billed separately:

Non-resident of Canada rates from each hospital's own rate sheet. Niagara Health charges uninsured Canadian residents $913 per CT image and $888 per MRI image; Unity Health charges them $1,430 for either.

Nova Scotia Health publishes one list for out-of-country visitors: $171 for a general X-ray, $291 for a general ultrasound, $2,739 for a CT scan, $2,664 for an MRI and $1,035 for an emergency or outpatient visit. It adds that for outpatient services it "does not send the bill to your insurance company for you", so you pay and claim it back.

We could not find published non-resident imaging rates from Alberta Health Services, Quebec or Manitoba. One Winnipeg hospital lists 2024–25 rates for uninsured Canadians only ($173 for an X-ray, $440 for an ultrasound, $768 for a CT scan), which are not the rates a visitor from abroad would pay. If you are in one of these provinces, ask the hospital for its rate before a non-urgent scan.

3Why You Get Two Bills: The Scan and the Radiologist

Every rate sheet we read says the same thing in different words: the hospital's price covers the machine, the technologist and the room, not the doctor. Nova Scotia Health says its fees "do not include doctor's fees (you will be billed directly by the doctor)". Niagara Health says "Physician fees will be billed separately."

Ontario's own fee schedule shows why. For each exam, OHIP pays a technical fee (the "H" fee, for the hospital) and a professional fee (the "P" fee, for the radiologist who reads the images and writes the report), and the Schedule says "the technical and professional components are claimed separately". For an insured Ontario patient, OHIP pays these amounts:

Ontario Schedule of Benefits for Physician Services, effective July 1, 2026. What OHIP pays for an insured patient, not a price charged to a visitor. CT and MRI facility costs are funded outside this Schedule.

These numbers are not what a visitor pays. They show the gap: the hospital fee a visitor pays for a CT or MRI is many times what OHIP pays the radiologist for the same scan, and the visitor still gets the radiologist's bill on top. No government source we found publishes what a radiologist charges a non-resident, so we cannot give a figure for that second bill.

4Who Pays Full Price: Visitors, Newcomers and Students

Visitors to Canada are never covered by a provincial plan. Ontario says it plainly: "Visitors are not eligible for OHIP coverage." Super Visa parents and grandparents, tourists and family visitors pay the non-resident rate for every scan unless they have insurance.

Newcomers and students depend on the province. Some provinces cover you from arrival; others make you wait.

From ontario.ca, gov.bc.ca, alberta.ca, quebec.ca and gnb.ca, read November 8, 2026. Rules for other provinces were not checked for this page.

British Columbia tells new arrivals to "contact a private insurance company" and to "keep that insurance until your MSP coverage starts." Quebec "strongly recommended" private insurance for the three months. The Government of Canada says it "doesn't pay for the medical costs of foreign students." Our guide to provincial health waiting periods covers each province in more detail.

If you live in BC but your MSP coverage has not started, Vancouver Coastal Health calls you "uninsured" for care received before your coverage date. The rate sheets have a separate, lower column for uninsured Canadian residents. Which column applies to you is the hospital's decision, so ask before a non-urgent scan.

5What Visitors Insurance Pays for X-Rays, Ultrasounds, CT and MRI

Every visitors to Canada plan we read pays for X-rays and lab tests that are part of emergency treatment. The difference is in the bigger scans. Most plans exclude MRI, CT, ultrasound and biopsy unless the insurer's assistance company approves them in advance.

From each insurer's own policy wording. Coverage is always subject to the plan's maximum, deductible, pre-existing condition rules and exclusions.

Two more points from the wordings. First, imaging is paid only as part of an emergency: a scan to check on an old problem, or a routine pregnancy ultrasound, is not an emergency. Our article on pregnancy and visitors insurance explains how plans treat pregnancy. Second, pre-existing condition rules still apply. A scan for a condition that was not stable before the policy started can be refused even when the insurer is called first. See visitors insurance with pre-existing conditions.

TuGo also caps fracture care: it pays up to $1,000 for fracture treatments that include X-ray examinations and follow-up visits.

6Why an MRI or CT Needs a Phone Call First

Pre-approval is the rule that catches most families. A doctor in the emergency department orders an MRI, the patient agrees, and nobody calls the insurer. The plan can then refuse the scan, even though the visit itself is covered.

This is how to avoid that:

• Keep the insurer's emergency number with the passport, and save it in the phone of whoever brings the visitor to hospital.
• Call the assistance company as soon as possible, ideally before treatment. Give them the policy number and the hospital's name.
• When a doctor orders an MRI, CT or ultrasound, ask the assistance company to approve it before the scan, unless the emergency makes that impossible.
• Write down the date, the time and the name of the person who approved it.
• Ask the hospital to bill the insurer directly. If it will not, keep every bill and the radiologist's invoice for your claim.

Some plans also cut what they pay if no one calls. In the JF student plan we summarized, the payment drops to 70% of eligible expenses, up to $150,000, when the assistance company is not told. Check the "notify us" clause in your own wording.

7Can a Visitor Pay a Private Clinic for an MRI?

Sometimes. Alberta is the one province we found that says so in writing. From July 31, 2026, Alberta lets people book MRI, CT, ultrasound and X-ray at participating private clinics without a referral, "including for individuals who do not live in Alberta". You pay the full cost at the time of the test, and non-Alberta residents are not reimbursed. Alberta does not publish the clinic prices.

Ontario licenses community surgical and diagnostic centres to provide OHIP-insured services, and says some of them "may also offer non OHIP-insured services and options", with MRI and CT among the services listed. Ontario does not publish what a visitor would pay there. We found no BC government page on visitors paying a private clinic.

A self-pay scan you chose to book is not an emergency, so visitors insurance will not pay for it. Use a private clinic only if you are paying yourself and the scan is not urgent.

8Before a Scan: Six Things to Check

• Is the person covered by a provincial plan today? Visitors never are; newcomers may be in a waiting period.
• Is it an emergency? Visitors insurance pays for emergency imaging, not for check-ups or scans you planned.
• Has the insurer approved the MRI, CT or ultrasound? Most plans need that before the scan.
• Which rate will the hospital charge: non-resident or uninsured resident? Ask before a non-urgent scan.
• Will the hospital bill the insurer directly? Nova Scotia Health, for one, does not for outpatient services.
• Expect a second bill from the radiologist, and keep it for your claim.

For the cost of the rest of the visit, see our guides to the doctor visit cost without insurance and hospital and ER costs without insurance.

9Where These Numbers Come From

Every figure on this page was read at the source on November 8, 2026. Rates change, usually every April or July, so check the current sheet before you rely on a number.

• British Columbia: Interior Health, Fees and Charges Schedule, Acute Care Billing (April 1, 2026), Vancouver Coastal Health, Patient Rate List (November 1, 2025), MSP coverage wait period and Health fee for international students.
• Nova Scotia: Nova Scotia Health, Hospital Fees for Out-of-Country Visitors (2026).
• Ontario: Schedule of Benefits for Physician Services (effective July 1, 2026), Apply for OHIP and get a health card and Community surgical and diagnostic centres. Hospital rate sheets: Niagara Health Patient Rate Schedule (July 1, 2026) and Unity Health Toronto Rate Summary (April 1, 2026).
• Alberta: Preventative health testing, Moving to Alberta and AHCIP for temporary residents.
• Quebec: Settle and integrate in Québec. New Brunswick: Applying for a Medicare card.
• Government of Canada: Prepare to study in Canada.
• Insurers: the visitors to Canada policy wordings of TruStone (Empire Life, July 2025), GMS (October 25, 2024), JF Insurance (July 27, 2026), Secure Travel (February 2024) and TuGo (July 2026), and TuGo Visitors to Canada emergency medical.

10Frequently Asked Questions