Itemized  ·  Procedures  ·  Inguinal hernia repair, open

Inguinal hernia repair, open cost.

What inguinal hernia repair, open costs at 124 US hospitals across 61 metros, pulled from the federally-mandated machine-readable files each hospital is required to publish. Cash-pay range: $153 to $81,453 (532× spread). CPT code 49505.

Cheapest cash price
$153
Jefferson Regional Medical Center
Jefferson Hills, PA
vs.
Most expensive cash price
$81,453
John Muir Health Concord Medical Center
Concord, CA

Top 5 cheapest hospitals for hernia repair.

# Hospital Cash price
1
Jefferson Regional Medical Center
Jefferson Hills, PA
 $153 to $281
2
Allegheny General Hospital
Pittsburgh, PA
 $193 to $355
3
Adventist Health Glendale
Glendale, CA
 $232
4
Adventist Health White Memorial Montebello
Montebello, CA
 $294
5
Seattle Children's Hospital
Seattle, WA
 $427 to $71,098

See all 124 hospitals, your insurance, your zip.

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What is inguinal hernia repair, open?

Inguinal hernia repair, open.

Surgery to repair an inguinal (groin) hernia using an open incision. Outpatient procedure under general or spinal anesthesia. Recovery 2-4 weeks.

Commonly done at ASCs at lower cost than hospitals. Laparoscopic versions exist with different CPTs (49650/49651). The published rate is usually the facility fee.

Why prices vary this much.

The same inguinal hernia repair, open on the same equipment can cost 532 times more at one hospital than another. Three reasons.

Chargemasters are arbitrary. The "sticker price" hospitals publish was never designed for consumers. It's a starting number for negotiation with insurance companies, with adjustments stacked on top for decades. Almost no one pays the chargemaster.

Negotiated rates are confidential bilateral contracts. Each insurance company negotiates its own rate with each hospital. Aetna at Hospital A might pay 60% of what Cigna pays at the same hospital for the same code. You see one rate; the hospital sees dozens.

Cash pay is a separate thing entirely. Many hospitals offer a "self-pay" or "cash-pay" rate that's dramatically cheaper than what they'd bill insurance, especially for elective imaging. If you have a high-deductible plan, paying cash and filing for reimbursement (or just eating the cost) can be the cheapest path.

What to ask the hospital before you book.

The four questions that surface hidden costs:

1. "Is the price you're quoting me the all-in price, or just the facility fee?" Hospitals often quote the facility fee and bill the radiologist or anesthesiologist separately on a different invoice.

2. "What's the cash-pay rate vs the rate you'd bill my insurance?" Don't assume insurance is cheaper. For high-deductible plans, cash pay is often the better deal.

3. "If I'm uninsured, do you have a financial assistance policy I qualify for?" Federally-tax-exempt hospitals are required to have one, and it can knock 50-100% off the bill for households under specific income thresholds.

4. "If I get a bill and the price is different than what was quoted, what's your dispute process?" Get the answer before you book, in writing if possible. If the bill comes in higher than the quote, you have leverage.

Common questions.

How much does inguinal hernia repair, open cost in 2026?+
Cash-pay prices for inguinal hernia repair, open (CPT 49505) range from $153 to $81,453 across the 124 hospitals in our dataset. The price varies by hospital, payer, and whether you pay cash or use insurance. Cash-pay rates are often dramatically cheaper than the rate insurance would pay at the same hospital, which is one of the more uncomfortable truths in this data.
Why does inguinal hernia repair, open cost so much more at some hospitals than others?+
Three reasons. First, hospital chargemasters (the "sticker price") are largely arbitrary and were never designed for consumers. Second, hospitals in expensive real-estate markets (Manhattan, San Francisco, Boston) carry higher facility overhead. Third, the negotiated rate each insurance company pays is the result of confidential bilateral contracts, so the same procedure on the same machine can cost 5x more depending on which insurance card you hand over.
Is the cash price always the cheapest option?+
Not always, but more often than you'd expect. For inguinal hernia repair, open in our dataset, the cash price beats the negotiated insurance rate at many hospitals, especially for patients with high-deductible plans. Always ask the hospital for both numbers before you decide which to use. If you have a low-deductible plan and the procedure is in-network, insurance is usually still cheaper.
What does the published price include?+
For inguinal hernia repair, open (CPT 49505), the published rate generally includes the procedure itself plus the immediately associated facility and professional fees as the hospital has assigned them. It does NOT include separate physician consultations, follow-up visits, prescriptions, or any complications that require additional treatment. Always ask: "Is this the all-in price, or just the facility fee?"
Where does this data come from?+
Federal law (45 CFR 180.50, the Hospital Price Transparency Rule) requires every US hospital to publish a machine-readable file with their negotiated rates and cash prices. We download those files directly from each hospital, parse them, and present them in a comparable format. No surveys, no estimates, no scraped review sites. The data is current as of the latest publication date for each hospital.