[maxerickson]

It's perhaps more stark with the CT scanners mentioned in the article.

They pay off the capital cost in 1 year. If you figure they need two imaging technicians on site 24 hours a day, the labor to staff the machine is roughly 6 * $200,000, or $1.2 million per year. If they average 1 scan per hour (a scan can take as little as 5 minutes), the labor cost of those techs is $140 per scan.

If it costs more than $1 million dollars to service the machine per year (the machines cost less than that new), the service cost is $140 per scan.

Hospitals routinely charge $2000+ for CT scans.