One Hospital Tells You What You Will Have to Pay—Before the Surgery
January 21, 2016
News Article
This editorial was written with Charles Sauer.
Don’t take our word for it. You can try this out yourself. Just google Surgery Center of Oklahoma and here is what you will find. For Achilles tendon repair, you will pay $5,730. That’s not an estimate with a huge variance around it. It’s a package price that includes doctor, nurse, anesthesia, room, drugs, supplies—everything.
For rotator cuff repair, the price is $8,260. For carpal tunnel release, it’s $2,750. All these prices are posted online for everyone to see. For more examples, see the table below.
The center is owned by Dr. Keith Smith, an Oklahoma anesthesiologist who started posting prices about the same time the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was enacted. Since then he has adjusted his prices (downward!) five times.
