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Repeat Stretching of the Voice Box Airway

Nebraska rates for HCPCS 31529

A scope is passed into the voice box, and the windpipe below it when needed, and a narrowed section of the airway is stretched open with a balloon or dilator. It is used when scarring or swelling has tightened the airway, causing noisy or difficult breathing or a weak voice. This is a repeat stretching, carried out after an earlier one.

Rates data updated October 2026.

How much does Repeat Stretching of the Voice Box Airway cost?

$2,925

Typical total for the visit. In Nebraska, October 2026.

Insurers have agreed to pay about $2,925 for this procedure. That total is two separate charges: $355 to the doctor who performs it, and $2,570 to the hospital or surgery center where it takes place. Done somewhere without a facility charge, you pay only the first.

These are rates insurers have negotiated with providers, not the amount a patient is billed. What you owe depends on your plan's deductible and coinsurance. Based on rates published by 7 insurance carriers under federal price transparency rules.

What's inside this number

Part of the billTypicalRange
Physician feeThe doctor who performs it$355$288 to $437
Facility feeThe hospital or surgery center$2,570$1,660 to $5,623

How much rates vary

Facilitymedian $2,570 · 10th to 90th $1,023 to $8,128Professionalmedian $355 · 10th to 90th $209 to $1,660
$200$500$1K$2K$5K$10Kfacility $2,570professional $355

Distribution of negotiated rates across all payers (price axis is log-scale). Need provider-level prices or 24+ months of history? Contact us.

Rates by insurance carrier

Insurance Carrier
Aetna
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$1,659.59
Median
$5,011.87
Typical High
$11,481.54
Aetna
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$151.36
Median
$151.36
Typical High
$1,445.44
BCBS Nebraska
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$5,623.41
Median
$7,413.10
Typical High
$15,135.61
BCBS Nebraska
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$2,344.23
Median
$2,511.89
Typical High
$2,511.89
Cigna
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$954.99
Median
$2,187.76
Typical High
$2,951.21
Cigna
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$309.03
Median
$354.81
Typical High
$489.78
Medica
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$851.14
Median
$1,949.84
Typical High
$9,120.11
Medica
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$208.93
Median
$346.74
Typical High
$1,659.59
Midlands
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$275.42
Median
$363.08
Typical High
$489.78
Midlands
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$954.99
Median
$2,290.87
Typical High
$3,162.28
Midlands
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$275.42
Median
$309.03
Typical High
$346.74
United
Setting
Facility
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$1,174.90
Median
$1,862.09
Typical High
$5,623.41
United
Setting
Professional
Modifier
None
Typical Low
$208.93
Median
$338.84
Typical High
$457.09
1 more rate with less common billing modifiers

A modifier changes what was billed, for example a reduced or repeated service. Each of these modifiers carries under 10% of the published rates for this code. Modifier combinations, and modifiers with fewer than 30 rates for a carrier, are not listed.

Insurance Carrier
Ambetter
Setting
Professional
Modifier
51 · Multiple procedures
Typical Low
$158.49
Median
$158.49
Typical High
$158.49

Where Nebraska sits

The same service costs 13.0 times more in Colorado than in Montana. Every bar is a state, most expensive first. Touch or drag across it to read any state, then open that state for its carriers and full range.

Physician feeFacility fee

Nebraska· 16th of 51

$2,925

$355 physician + $2,570 facility

CO $6,260MT $480

Median negotiated rate in each state, from every insurer that publishes one. States where no insurer publishes a rate for this service are not shown.