One of the other important decisions if you are ready to have this surgery or not, is of course, the cost and price of all the services involved from visiting the doctor to walking out of the surgery room.
I was not able to find the general cost of it and when I did, it was way off of real world experience. So to help others out, based in WI, this is the expected break down of the the total costs incurred to have cheilectomy great toe surgery.
Breakdown of the costs involved.
| Description of Service | Costs |
| Imaging – Xrays for foot (3 sides for view during consult) | $371.75 |
| Initial visit / consulation (to validate cheilectomy sugery is right fit) | $216.25 |
| Pre-op visit (to assure your healthy enough for surgery) | $190.75 |
| Surgery – Doctor who performed the surgery charge | $1,940.50 |
| Surgery – Doctor who performed the general anesthesia | $943.52 |
| Surgery – Hospital Pharmacy | $408.52 |
| Surgery – Hospital Operating Room Charges | $6,593.25 |
| Surgery – Hospital Anesthesia Charges (drugs/services used by doc) | $2,663.75 |
| Surgery – Hospital Pharmacy Services (for billing/admin? ) | $379.72 |
| Surgery – Hospital Recovery Room Services | $1,817.50 |
| Post-op visit 1 (stitches removed, cost asborbed in doctor fees) | $0.00 |
| Post -op visti 2 (30 days after, assure questions, all is good) | $190.75 |
| TOTAL COSTS INVOLVED | $15,344.51 |
These are the actual costs the providers charge for the different services involved. As you can see many different services & departments come into play with a cheilectomy surgery (or any surgery).
From using the Imaging (Radiology) department to produce your Xrays, doctor visits, charges for sitting in a recovery room to paying for the rental use of the operating room and for paying for the differnet nurses who come to check up on you (vital signs, get coffee after surgery etc…).
Ideally, you have insurance and will probably receive services that are in your Tier 1 providers/network (like I did) which will reduce this overall cost. Although not as much as you may think.
Many times your insurance has pre-determined agreed on pricing with these providers that is lower then these prices. In addition, for most with high-deductible medical insurance plans (like my experience), you pay only up to the portion of your max out of pocket.
Will say that even with medical insurance, my pocket book was still hit with over $6000 in out of pocket costs for this single surgery. This was from the costs of the medical premiums (required to have insurance) and even though the deductible was met, still had to pay 10% of the costs past that, which is required until the OOPM (out of pocket max) is met. Which is around $7000 in my case for my spouse and I.
Did you you have a similar pricing experience? Did you pay cash (.i.e you had no insurance and get a discount) or other experience with costs?
Provide your experience below to compare and help others with actual expectations.
First, thanks for the detailed write up! This is the first I’ve found with this level of detail, and I was feeling very information-starved.
I’m day-9 post-op right now. My out of pocket costs were $100 co-pay at the center, and 2 $45 co-pays for specific pre-op visits, plus some co-pays for visits when I was getting diagnosed and deciding what to do. Post-op visits are zero co-pay on my plan. I had a post-op visit on day 3, and more scheduled for days 13, 23, and 30. I’m in Georgia and my plan is with Kaiser.
I’ve been suffering with this for several years, and it was hard to balance the risks and benefits. But my pain was getting worse and interfering with activities that I enjoy like hiking and climbing.
I have a photo of mine on day-3, but as I was strictly instructed to not change the bandage myself, I haven’t seen it since then. I’m on day-9 now and it’s feeling pretty good. I’m really looking forward to getting the stitches out and starting PT.
Thanks for sharing your experience as well Jay. Its great to see there are still a few good insurance options out there providing good coverage for this type of surgery. It does seem each facility and / or surgeon has a slight unique take on post-surgery recommendations. I think its good to see the differences, as the doctor is also taking into account each patient is a bit different and may recommend different post-op requests based on that (assuming). Good news the majority come out very well, just based on the responses on this site. Our bodies are amazing specimens and can recover pretty amazingly.
Wow! Australia is notoriously expensive, but mine was $7000 for both feet. I guess that’s a small win, zero coverage from health insurance unfortunately! Thank you for sharing your journeys x
I recently had a Hallux Rigidus Correction surgery on my right big toe.
The Dr Charges were $2,500.00 with my OOP costs $83.00
HOWEVER, the “outpatient, minimally invasive” surgery center charged $59,020.00 with my OOP cost $20,657.00
This is in a local community hospital in southern California.
Wish I had known the costs up front.
Hi Tom,
I understand California has a high COL, but that outpatient surgery cost seems extremely excessive for a cheilectomy surgery. With the pass of some recent laws in past years, hospitals need to be able to provide an estimate, when requested, for any type of procedure. It may be off the actual cost by 10% or so, but at least you could compare several hospitals and see which one is price gouging, or can challenge with why it would be so different, which unfortunately don’t help you at this point, but possible others in the future, especially in California or other high COL regions.
Wow! I’m in So.Cal. also, and about to have my Chilectomy. I assumed that my insurance would cover it. When I had my ACL repair (with the same Orthopedic group), the cost was minimal. Physical therapy was $0, Doctors were $20 copay per visit. And I want to say the surgery was like $250 copay or something. I’m hoping this surgery is covered as well! It’s hard enough to cope with the lost hours of work (income) during recovery. Thank you all for sharing your experiences!
Hi, I am so sorry you had to pay so much out of pocket with insurance. That didn’t even include PT! Questions, was the surgery for both feet? Will they do both feet at one time? How long did it take to be able to drive again? Thank you! I hope your doing well! Karen 🙂
Hi Karen, the surgery was just for a single toe. Honestly, if it wasnt for the surgery on my right foot (gas/break pedal) I would have been able to drive same day.