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The $100 heart scan: why Brad Gerstner calls CAC the mammogram for the heart

At the All-In Summit, investor Brad Gerstner brought a mobile calcium scanner and a pitch: a cheap, quick scan for everyone. What he claims, what the evidence and the guidelines say, and what a calcium score test actually costs in our data.

On 16 September 2026, at the All-In Summit, Molly O’Shea of Sourcery posted two videos from beside a trailer with a CT scanner inside it. Brad Gerstner, the founder of the investment firm Altimeter, and Jason Chang had brought it to give attendees a coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan. Their pitch, in O’Shea’s words: they “are trying to turn a $100 CAC heart scan into the ‘mammogram for the heart.’” (O’Shea on X; the video tour).

This page sets out what they said, checks what can be checked, and answers the question a $100 headline raises: what does a calcium score test cost?

Nobody has medically reviewed this page. CalciumCT.com is a directory of published cash prices. We do not perform scans, read scans, employ clinicians, or practice medicine in any state. This page reports what others claim and cites every source so you can check it; none of it is advice about you. How our guides are written.

What they said at the All-In Summit

Gerstner says heart disease kills about 800,000 Americans a year. He says that if the calcium scan became “the mammogram for the heart”, it would save 50,000 lives a year and $20 billion a year in government health care costs, and that the goal is 40 million scans a year, the number of mammograms he says are done each year (Sourcery’s write-up). Two lines from the video tour, as O’Shea quoted them:

“Heart attacks are a dumb way to die. Because they are preventable.”

“Half of the people who have heart attacks every year have cholesterol in the normal zone.”

Rob Goldberg explained why it is personal. His brother Dave Goldberg, the husband of Sheryl Sandberg, died suddenly at 47 of heart disease nobody had diagnosed:

“My brother had passed a running EKG five months before he dropped dead from heart disease, from undiagnosed heart disease.”

The group behind the trailer is the Center for Heart Attack Prevention, which describes itself as a nonprofit whose mission is “to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality through early detection, education, and policy change”, built around a mobile CAC screening unit and a “buy-one-give-one” model to widen access. In the interview Gerstner describes that model as an employer paying for two scans, one for an employee and one given free in a neighbourhood that could not otherwise afford it, and names three aims: awareness, easier access, and a change to the standard of care.

The video also covers why cholesterol and other routine tests can miss risk, what a score tells you, the scan against an angiogram, and fear of the result and insurance. We take those in turn below.

The claims, and what we could check

The claimWhat the public record says
About 800,000 Americans die of heart disease a year (Gerstner) Depends on what is counted. The CDC counts 683,491 deaths from heart disease in 2024, the leading cause of death (CDC FastStats), and 919,032 from all cardiovascular disease, strokes included, in 2023. The same page estimates about 805,000 heart attacks a year, a separate count from deaths (CDC heart disease facts).
Half of people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol (Gerstner) The nearest published figure we found: of 136,905 hospital stays for coronary artery disease in the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines registry, almost half of the patients had an LDL cholesterol below 100 mg/dL on admission (Sachdeva A, et al., American Heart Journal, 2009, PMID 19081406). That is people admitted with coronary disease, not heart attacks alone, and one cholesterol reading.
40 million scans a year would save 50,000 lives and $20 billion a year (Gerstner) His estimate. We found no published analysis behind either figure, so we report them as his and do not repeat them as fact.
The scan costs about $100 (Gerstner) True of some facilities, not most: see our prices below. His own LinkedIn post about the same event says "$150 & 15 mins". The Center's website names no price.

What a calcium score test costs: our data

We list a self-pay price for 228 facilities. The median, the Calcium Score Price Index, is $127.50, and the lowest is $45. 94 of the 228 are $100 or less, so a $100 heart scan is real, but it is not the typical price. The most common price is $99, listed by 41 facilities, and 82 list $99 or less: they are all on our $99-or-less list. Prices checked September 16 – (how we check).

Of the listings at $100 or less, 4 have been confirmed by phone and carry our Verified mark; the rest come from published sources:

A listed price is not a quote. When you call, ask for the self-pay price for CPT 75571, whether it includes the radiologist’s read, and whether you need a doctor’s order first; our cost guide has the questions. To see what is near you, search by ZIP code or browse by state and city.

What the score tells you: 0, 1 to 99, 100 and up

The scan is a low-dose, non-contrast CT of the heart. It measures calcified plaque in the coronary arteries and reports it as an Agatston score. A score of 0 means no calcified plaque was seen; it does not rule out soft plaque, which the scan cannot see. Gerstner says the same in the video tour. Above 0, the higher the number, the more calcified plaque. What each band means is on our score guide.

The current US cholesterol guideline, the 2026 ACC/AHA multisociety guideline on dyslipidemia, uses the score for adults at intermediate risk, and some at borderline risk, when the decision about cholesterol-lowering treatment is uncertain. For those adults it says (Blumenthal RS, et al., 2026):

The ACC and AHA describe the scan’s role as “selective use”, recommended for men 40 and older and women 45 and older at borderline or intermediate risk “if knowing CAC will help with the decision to prescribe a statin or not” (ACC/AHA news release, 13 March 2026). That is narrower than Gerstner’s advice, which is a scan for everyone over 35. The US Preventive Services Task Force has made no recommendation either way: in 2018 it found the evidence “insufficient” to weigh the benefits and harms of adding a calcium score to routine risk assessment in adults without symptoms, and listed radiation and incidental findings as the harms (Curry SJ, et al., JAMA, 2018).

So a mammogram for the heart is an aim, not today’s guidance. What today’s guidance does agree on is that, for the people it is meant for, the number changes decisions.

Calcium score or angiogram?

Gerstner’s answer in the video: the calcium scan for everyone over 35, and a CT angiogram, which uses contrast dye, if the score is above 0. They are different tests. A calcium scan (CPT 75571) counts calcified plaque without dye; a coronary CT angiogram (CPT 75574) shows narrowing and soft plaque, costs more and takes longer. Which one you need, if either, is a question for the clinician ordering it. The two tests side by side.

Fear, and who pays

Asked about people who would rather not know, Gerstner says “data is power”, and Jason Chang compares the scan to wearing a seatbelt. On cost, Gerstner says he has met Dr. Oz, the head of CMS, and that he expects Medicare and Medicaid to cover the scan for diagnostic purposes by the end of 2026. That is his prediction. As of our last read of the rules, Original Medicare does not pay for a calcium scan done as a screening test; our insurance guide says what Medicare, large insurers and state laws do cover, and how HSA and FSA money works.

Before you book

Talk to your doctor or another licensed clinician first: whether the scan is right for you depends on your age, your history and what you would do with the result. If you have chest pain, shortness of breath or other symptoms, do not wait for a screening scan; get medical care now.

Sources

All outside sources accessed 3 October 2026.

This is general education, not medical advice, and no clinician has reviewed it. Whether to have a calcium scan, and what your score means, are questions for a licensed clinician who knows your history.

Last updated .