Medicare pays doctors about $520 to perform a standard cataract operation, roughly 20 percent less than it paid a decade ago, and a growing share of patients are being offered a laser-assisted version of the same surgery that can add $1,000 to $3,000 per eye to their own bill. That payment trend and the clinical response to it are documented in reporting published by KFF Health News. The $520 figure covers the procedure along with the visits before and after it.
Cataract surgery is one of the most common operations Medicare covers, and the standard version typically leaves an enrollee owing a few hundred dollars. The laser upcharge is a separate transaction. Because traditional Medicare does not cover most vision correction, doctors are permitted to bill patients directly when the laser is used to insert a premium lens or correct astigmatism.
