Cost of Retina detachment

[ccheetah]

I don't have insurance. The cost for an examination then laser surgery to fix a small retina tear was $1500. Does anyone who has insurance know how much the insurance paid for a similar procedure? If you also don't have insurance how much did your doctor charge. $1500 seemed like an awfully high cost for a 10 minute procedure.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

You mislead yourself when you say its a 10 minute procedure.  Besides the costs of education, pay staff, rent, malpractice insurance (a biggie)  it takes over a $100,000 to equip an operating room, plus the surgical fee normally includes all office care for 90 days. If you figure the surgeon was agreeing to provide care to you for 90 days for $1500 that works about to 69 cents/hour.

JCH MD

[cwatt1]

Seems pretty typical, unfortunately.  I had a similar in-office procedure in January, The total bill was $1,584, which I would have had to pay in the absence of insurance.  Since my retina specialist is in the Blue Cross network, the agreed upon charge was $955, which my insurance company covered.  I only had to pay the $35 copayment for an office visit.