TBH you can ask most surgeons what a prodecure will run and they can give you a pretty accurate cost for what THEY BILL
most of the cost comes from the other hospitial bullshit like charging 500$ for a disposiable gown and other stupid crap like a 300$ dose of asprin. - that shit you cant ask about
if you happen to get an itemized bill its pretty insane what they bill for all that crap. its generally not the Doc who is doing the operation who is charging you an arm and a leg
I just had outpatient hernia surgery and received my bill. Was blown away by the cost.
Surgeon charged $3800 to perform the procedure.
Anesthesiologist charged $1300 to keep me feeling happy.
Hospital charged:
$3000 for pre-op prep and observation (Most expensive 2 hours of Cosby I have ever watched);
$5000 for OR
$4000 for post op recovery.
Total outlay was ~$17,100
Total time in the hospital: 4.5 hours.
Total out of pocket costs - looks to be right ~$3,000
Interestingly, charges for my gallbladder surgery were lower across the board, despite the procedure being longer and more complex.
In any event, something doesn't smell right.
To put that in contrast, my daughter had a 4.5 hour long open heart procedure when she was two months old. Procedure was performed at Boston Childrens, arguably the best Children's hospital in the world. A team of 10 worked on her in the OR, and she was in the pediatric cardiac ICU for ~10 days and the general ward for 3 days. Total amount billed to insurance was ~$81,000. Somehow I managed to rack up ~20% of that bill in just under 5 hours by having routine hernia surgery at a decent but certainly not excellent regional hospital.