b' Wordw w w. w m i m u t u a l . c o mIf Insurance CompaniesPAID for LASIK Eye Surgery. It Would Cost a Whole Lot More!Twenty-two years ago, my sister-in-lawlar to the cost increase of other non-elective major By David Leo, called me and asked if I was interested in a spe- medical services over the same time period. More President of cial LASIK eye surgery deal. She worked in anspecifically, I was curious to find out whether the WMI Mutual office with several ophthalmologists, and thosecost of a procedure like LASIK, that is usually paid Insurance Company doctors were being pitched a new hi-tech laser byfor entirely by the consumer (and is thus subject to & WMI TPAa manufacturer who wanted access to their prac- more conventional economic principles of sup-tice. As an inducement to patients to try the newply and demand) had increased in cost at roughly machine, they were offering laser eye surgery forthe same rate as other medical procedures that are $1,500 per eye, a discount of $1,000 from theirgenerally paid by third-party insurance coverage (which insulates the insured/consumer from the true normal rate of $2,500 per eye. Always lookingcost of the medical care). 1(pun intended) to save a buck, I debated for quite some time whether I was willing to jeopardizeAccording to Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today my already poor eyesight for the potential of (CRST), the average price of LASIK eye surgery 20-20 vision, but the thought of living a glasses- in early 2000 was just above $2,000 per eye. Soon free life (at least until my later years when Ithereafter, the price began to drop fairly signifi-would need to don an occasional pair of cantly, and in 2002 the cost had settled at around cheaters) was quite appealing. $1,600 per eye. Inasmuch as my eye surgery was performed at the renowned Moran Eye Center at the If youve ever had elective laser eye surgery, ImUniversity of Utah (which is generally a bit pricier sure youre aware that most insurance companiesthan other eye surgery practices), the $1,600 figure do not cover it, as it is considered to be a cosmeticsounds reasonable and correct to me.procedure rather than a medically necessary sur- Over the past two decades, the price of laser eye gery. As a new husband, father and homeowner, Isurgery has remained fairly flat. According to the knew the $3,000 price tag would strain my budgetRefractive Surgery Counsel (RSC), the cost of a bit, but I decided Id take advantage of the spe- LASIK eye surgery in 2008 was about $2,000 per cial deal my sister-in-law was offering me and Ieye, and by 2018, that figure had risen slightly to went ahead with the surgery. Im not exaggerating$2,200 per eye. Today, according to NVISION Eye when I say it was life changing! Ive never regret- Centers, the average cost of LASIK is $2,632 per ted the money I spent or the results of the proce- eye. In other words, since 2000, the cost of laser dure, and I would highly recommend it to anyoneeye surgery has risen by about 31.6% (ignoring who is a candidate. inflation). This is significantly lower than the basic Fast forward to last week when I was chatting withcore inflation rate which was 82.4% from 2000 to a friend about his recent cataract removal surgery2024 according to the inflation calculator atand trifocal intraocular lens implantation that al- officialdata.org (using data provided by thelows him to see close, mid-range and far distancesBureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index).with perfect vision (pretty amazing stuff, right!). He told me his surgery had cost him $6,000 out-of-pocket because his Medicare Advantage plan didnt pay the entire amount, but he was quick to add that the improvement to his vision was so incredible that1I fully acknowledge that my crude research project was far from scientific and was more akin to a SWAG project than a he didnt regret his decision one bit. peer-reviewed journal piece. I didnt account for technological improvements or efficiencies, I didnt explore in great detail or All that talk got me to wondering how much theparse out the reported medical inflation percentages I used for price of LASIK eye surgery in the U.S. had in- comparison purposes, and I didnt extrapolate out the present creased since my surgery in 2002, and whether thevalue of money from 2002 to 2024 (which, if anything, would price increase for that elective procedure was simi- result in higher 2002 costs than the raw dollar amount I used). Since I was only doing it for my own curiosity, it is what it is.54 www.wpma.com / Summer 2024'