👁️

I need cataract surgery

Cataract removal with a lens implant, per eye.

Typical US price before insurance

$3,888

$2,509typical range$6,353

This is an allowed amount — the price actually negotiated with insurers, not the inflated list price. Source: Health Care Cost Institute — HealthPrices.org (2021–2022 vintage (HCCI does not publish the exact data year)).

What Medicare pays for the same care $2,668

Private insurers pay 1.5× what Medicare pays for this.

All-in: $2,205 to the hospital plus $463 to the doctor (OPPS/APC, 2024). Divide the two figures above and you get our ratio — check our arithmetic. Source: CMS.

What you'd actually pay

Your coverage

—

Where you live

Your state

$3,888

The national average price.

State prices from RAND's hospital price study — how much your state's hospitals charge private insurers relative to Medicare. This is a statewide price level, not a per-procedure state price. Maryland isn't shown: it sets hospital rates for all payers, so the comparison doesn't apply there.

This is an estimate, not a bill. It applies published average deductibles and a 20% coinsurance (KFF's measured average for a hospital admission) to a national average price. Your actual plan, hospital and diagnosis will move this number. Not medical or financial advice.