Cataract surgery is the most commonly performed surgery in the country and one of the most price-variable. In Tampa, facility fees range from $800 to $6,000. The procedure itself takes about 15 minutes and is almost always done at an ambulatory surgery center.
Standard lens vs. premium lens is a major cost fork
Medicare and most insurers cover a standard monofocal lens, which corrects distance or near vision but not both. If you want a premium lens (multifocal or toric) that reduces dependence on glasses, you pay the upgrade cost out-of-pocket.
Premium lens upgrades at some facilities run $1,500 to $3,000 per eye on top of the covered facility fee. This is not a billing error. It is a patient-elected upgrade that insurance explicitly excludes.
The ophthalmologist bills separately from the facility
Your surgeon bills a professional fee. The ambulatory surgery center or hospital outpatient department bills the facility fee shown here.
Cataract surgery is almost always performed at an ASC rather than a hospital outpatient department. The rates shown here reflect both settings. If your surgeon is routing you to a hospital, ask why.
Both eyes are typically separate procedures and separate bills
Most surgeons operate on one eye, wait several weeks, and then operate on the other. Each procedure generates its own set of bills.
If you met your out-of-pocket maximum with the first eye, the second may cost you nothing. Track your running total against your plan's out-of-pocket maximum as you go through the year.