Would Those Who Have Had Cataract Surgery Pls Share Both Medical And Financial Info- Costs In Particular. Cost Hard 2get

[Jethro]

Lens companies have no incentive to share cost info with patients and surgical providers do no want patients to know what a cash cow the cataract replacement process is. If a physican charges $2400/eye and does 40 procedures a week, he/she brings in $96,000 weekly and $4,800,000 over the year(50 weeks) No information is readily available on what MEDICARE will pay, what each level of lens costs(retail to the Eye physician's practice) and how to negotiate for more capable lens for less money. Information is needed so that we who need the procedure can approach the eye practice in a position of knowledge. You get cost information about buying a lawn tractor or an automobile, why not medical procedure costs. Your financial experiences will help us all as we plan surgery. Please help by detailing what your medical and cost experiences were and whether you thought that the process was over priced. Let it all hang out so we can go into the eye office knowing all

[Kenji]

My husband had cataract surgery on his right eye in October. We have Medicare and Tricare for Life. Our out-of-pocket cost for surgery was $0, zip, zilch, nada. We also made four office visits before and after surgery and our out-of-pocket cost for those visits was the same - nothing. He had to use one oral antibiotic and three eyedrops before and after surgery. The cost to us was $36, the co-pays for the medicines. Glasses are not covered by Tricare. I don't know whether Medicare covers them(we haven't gotten them yet - we need to wait until his eye stabilizes) or not. Worst case would be that we would have to pay $200 to $300 for glasses.Our doctor carries a specific line of lenses of which there are three types. As I recall one cannot be used for folks who have astigmatism, one works best for folks who are correcting only "old age" near-sightedness, and one is used for folks who will need to continue to wear glasses after the cataract is removed because they were always near-sighted. He picked the best of the three for my husband's particular eye situation so there was not really much choice to make.As to your estimate of 40 procedures per week, that may be low. The surgery took almost precisely 10 minutes. Our surgeon gives each patient a plant after surgery, and there were 22 plants lined up for that day's patients. He operates 4 days a week, sees new patients on Thursdays, and post-op patients the day after surgery, including Saturday.To balance that out, however, our doctor closes his office for three months out of the year and goes to a small village in Central America, where he performs eye surgery for free. His partner during that time goes to a village in Africa and does the same.Also, while he makes quite a bit presumably from doing that many surgeries, I did note that his office was very staff intensive, so he has to pay a lot in salaries and benefits. He also had some very fancy and up-to-date equipment which he also has to pay for, plus a computer network. In addition, there are the costs of having an office(rent, electricity, and so on) and in carrying malpractice insurance. You may find that there may not be as much "wiggle room" as you would there to be.If you can figure out an economical way to do it, your best bet would be to obtain Medicare supplement insurance before you even consider the operation. That will probably leave you paying relatively little for the procedure.

[Walfred]

For additional information: our doctor billed $4400 for the surgery, Medicare paid him $900, Tricare paid him $57, and we owe him $0.

[Chazaiah]

even paid for the new glasses.  The procedure was painless and the vision with the lens implant is amazing.  I am going to have the other eye done now and will not need full glasses with bi-focal anymore.. just some little granny glasses for reading.  If you are on medicare it should be the same for you.  Check with your eye doctor, he will be able to tell you about coverage for the cost.  Good luck!

[Duayne]

I had the cataract surgery last year, with an implanted contact lens..Medicare paid for it all even paid for the new glasses.  The procedure was painless and the vision with the lens implant is amazing.  I am going to have the other eye done now and will not need full glasses with bi-focal anymore.. just some little granny glasses for reading.  If you are on medicare it should be the same for you.  Check with your eye doctor, he will be able to tell you about coverage for the cost.  Good luck! Nancy13903 61 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.

[khalid]

darwin? said: 1 My husband had cataract surgery on his right eye in October. We have Medicare and Tricare for Life. Our out-of-pocket cost for surgery was $0, zip, zilch, nada. We also made four office visits before and after surgery and our out-of-pocket cost for those visits was the same - nothing. He had to use one oral antibiotic and three eyedrops before and after surgery. The cost to us was $36, the co-pays for the medicines. Glasses are not covered by Tricare. I don't know whether Medicare covers them(we haven't gotten them yet - we need to wait until his eye stabilizes) or not. Worst case would be that we would have to pay $200 to $300 for glasses.Our doctor carries a specific line of lenses of which there are three types. As I recall one cannot be used for folks who have astigmatism, one works best for folks who are correcting only "old age" near-sightedness, and one is used for folks who will need to continue to wear glasses after the cataract is removed because they were always near-sighted. He picked the best of the three for my husband's particular eye situation so there was not really much choice to make.As to your estimate of 40 procedures per week, that may be low. The surgery took almost precisely 10 minutes. Our surgeon gives each patient a plant after surgery, and there were 22 plants lined up for that day's patients. He operates 4 days a week, sees new patients on Thursdays, and post-op patients the day after surgery, including Saturday.To balance that out, however, our doctor closes his office for three months out of the year and goes to a small village in Central America, where he performs eye surgery for free. His partner during that time goes to a village in Africa and does the same.Also, while he makes quite a bit presumably from doing that many surgeries, I did note that his office was very staff intensive, so he has to pay a lot in salaries and benefits. He also had some very fancy and up-to-date equipment which he also has to pay for, plus a computer network. In addition, there are the costs of having an office(rent, electricity, and so on) and in carrying malpractice insurance. You may find that there may not be as much "wiggle room" as you would there to be.If you can figure out an economical way to do it, your best bet would be to obtain Medicare supplement insurance before you even consider the operation. That will probably leave you paying relatively little for the procedure. 61 months ago

[ulfred]

darwin? said: 2 For additional information: our doctor billed $4400 for the surgery, Medicare paid him $900, Tricare paid him $57, and we owe him $0. 61 months ago