I had a biopsy last week. I was fully conscious even though they told me it was "conscious sedation" and had a local anesthetic. It turned out ok. My hematologist is associated with a hospital, so it was done in the CT room. They billed my company-sponsored insurance $16,500 (I assume that includes the pathology). I looked up the charges on Medicare, and it looks like they would pay about $1,200. My wife had exactly the same procedure done in January in the same location and it cost $9,000. Ouch!