LASIK questions relating to cost

Ardor

A friend of mine is looking at getting LASIK done. She had a consultation yesterday and was figuring a price in her head. Apparently, she found that the price was well above what she thought it was going to be. A quick search on google seemed to indicate that the price she found ($1900 per eye) seemed to include all pre and post op costs along with consultations and check ups up to a year afterwards.

I recommended checking at least one more clinic for price that isn't some 'bargain deal' because most of those only show you a single price point, not everything included. I also recommended she ask about multiple studies to see if she can't get some more cost reductions. It seems the person she dealt with only deals with that one particular study and there's both a 6 month lag between when the study can be concluded and it is not guaranteed she will be eligible to do it again at that time.

She had heard she could save some money by participating in a study, which she said would save her $1200 off the price. So the price including tax should be around $2600. She was wondering if there were other ways to save some money and I wanted to see if anyone here had any ideas.

For reference, she checked with these folks yesterday. http://www.mneye.com/

Any thoughts by chance?

Thanks for your time and help.

bowen

$1900 per eye is $2800 (not much more than she'd save, but also not much less without the "study"), but that doesn't mean all LASIK surgeons charge $1900 per eye. $1900 might be the raw "cost of surgery" fee and nothing else included.

I'd avoid the study at all costs, but that's just me.

But I've seen the good centers run as high as $5000 total.

EggyToast

You mean #3800 total.

My wife's cost her $5000, which includes all of the follow-ups and so on. She went to one of the best places in the country and was incredibly happy with it (and is 20/20 in one eye, 15/20 in the other).

bowen

EggyToast wrote: »

You mean #3800 total.

My wife's cost her $5000, which includes all of the follow-ups and so on. She went to one of the best places in the country and was incredibly happy with it (and is 20/20 in one eye, 15/20 in the other).

Yeah my bad, my maths is wrong today.

Ruckus

I paid $2100/eye, which include pre-op and a couple post-op checkups with the surgeon. I had the rest of my post-op checkups done at my regular optometrist.

It's been about 3 1/2 years now, still at 20/20. Side effects for myself is slight permanent halo effect at night (I become the master chief) and some photophobia (abnormal light sensativity) during the day, nothing a good pair of shades can't solve.

zrikz

I had lasik done last December and I believe it cost me around 2200 an eye. No complaints though, I now have 20/10 in both eyes 6 months later. The cost included all pre/post op checkups for the next 12 months (at my optometrist) and free adjustments if my eyes get worse than 20/40 in the next like 10 years.

Ardor

Thanks for the help thusfar, I really appreciate it.

Do any of you know if there are other methods, studies or pre-tax dollars through an employer health care fund for example, of saving money on the procedure?

saint2e

I'm in Canada and had LASIK and with all the consultations and the surgery it cost me $2500 in total. So to me that seems a bit high. But I notice you're in Minnesota, so perhaps social health care is factored in to my cost.

wallaka

Wow, I paid $750 an eye two years ago, including pre-op appointments and exams for a year afterwards. I guess that is a benefit of living in the wilds of Alabama. Probably the only one. I have 20/15 vision, with slight haloing at night and sensitivity at day, but nothing significant.

Ruckus

saint2e wrote: »

I'm in Canada and had LASIK and with all the consultations and the surgery it cost me $2500 in total. So to me that seems a bit high. But I notice you're in Minnesota, so perhaps social health care is factored in to my cost.

My $2100/eye was in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

It think cost varies depending on how much correction is required.

Burtletoy

Many health insurance companies DO offer great incentives to get this surgery done. They don't want to be buying you contacts for the rest of your life. I used my dad's insurance and the price ended up being ~$3000 total for both eyes, but I don't know what it was going to be pre-insurance.