Surgery

Medicare covers many medically necessary inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures.

Your costs in Original Medicare

For surgeries or procedures, it's hard to know the exact costs in advance. This is because you won’t know what services you need until you meet with your provider. If you need surgery or a procedure, you may be able to estimate how much you'll have to pay. You can:

1. Ask the doctor, hospital, or facility how much you'll have to pay for the surgery and any care afterward.
2. If you're an outpatient, you may have a choice between an ambulatory surgical center and a hospital outpatient department.
3. Find out if you're an inpatient or outpatient because what you pay may be different.
4. Check with any other insurance you may have to see what it will pay. If you belong to a Medicare health plan, contact your plan for more information. Other insurance might include:
   • Coverage from your or your spouse's employer
   • Medicaid
   • Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) policy
5. Log into (or create) your secure Medicare account, or look at your last "Medicare Summary Notice" (MSN)" to see if you've met your deductibles.
   • Check your Part A deductible if you expect to be admitted to the hospital.
   • Check your Part B deductible for a doctor's visit and other outpatient care.
   • You'll need to pay the deductible amounts before Medicare will start to pay. After Medicare starts to pay, you may have copayments for the care you get.

Related resources

• Transplants (adults)
• Ambulatory surgical centers
• Anesthesia
• Breast prostheses
• Cosmetic surgery
• Inpatient hospital care
• Kidney transplants (adults)
• Kidney transplants (children)
• Outpatient hospital services
• Pancreas transplants (adults)
• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Speech-language pathology services
• Second surgical opinions
• Surgical dressing services
• Compare the price of procedures done in ambulatory surgical centers and hospitals