“Hernia surgery” is not one price, because it is not one operation. A small umbilical repair through a two-inch incision and a laparoscopic paraesophageal repair with a fundoplication share a category and almost nothing else. Between them sit inguinal (groin) repairs, ventral and incisional repairs on the front of the abdomen, and femoral repairs, each with its own CPT code and its own facility rate.
This guide prices each type separately using figures pulled in September 2026: three surgery centers that publish cash prices, the July 2026 CMS facility payment addenda, the 2026 physician fee schedule, 2024 national Medicare claims released in May 2026, and one hospital’s own machine-readable charge file dated March 27 2026. Two things move the number more than the hernia itself. The first is whether the repair is open, laparoscopic or robotic. The second is whether the mesh is inside the quoted price.
What Does Hernia Surgery Cost Without Insurance?
A single open repair runs roughly $3,500 to $6,300 as a bundled cash price. A laparoscopic inguinal repair on one side runs about $5,700 to $7,100. Hiatal repair is in a different tier entirely.
| Hernia repair | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open inguinal, bundled cash price (one side) | $3,870 | $4,982 | $6,325 |
| Laparoscopic inguinal, bundled cash price (one side) | $5,724 | $6,705 | $7,130 |
| Bilateral inguinal (both sides), bundled cash price | $5,285 | $8,268 | $9,775 |
| Umbilical, bundled cash price | $3,708 | $5,405 | $5,512 |
| Ventral or incisional, bundled cash price | $3,720 | $5,225 | $5,512 |
| Femoral, bundled cash price | n/a | $3,532 | n/a |
| Hiatal / paraesophageal with fundoplication, bundled cash price | n/a | $13,707 | n/a |
| Recurrent hernia, add-on fee to the base price | n/a | $915 | n/a |
| Medicare all-in, open inguinal 49505, surgery center | n/a | $2,252 | n/a |
| Medicare all-in, open inguinal 49505, hospital outpatient | n/a | $4,166 | n/a |
| Medicare all-in, laparoscopic inguinal 49650, surgery center | n/a | $3,455 | n/a |
| Medicare all-in, laparoscopic inguinal 49650, hospital outpatient | n/a | $6,601 | n/a |
| Medicare all-in, umbilical or ventral under 3 cm (49591), surgery center | n/a | $2,060 | n/a |
| Medicare all-in, umbilical or ventral under 3 cm (49591), hospital outpatient | n/a | $3,974 | n/a |
| Medicare all-in, ventral 3 to 10 cm (49593), hospital outpatient | n/a | $7,139 | n/a |
| Medicare all-in, hiatal 43281, surgery center | n/a | $6,545 | n/a |
| Medicare all-in, hiatal 43281, hospital outpatient | n/a | $12,285 | n/a |
| One hospital’s negotiated facility rates, open inguinal 49505 | $2,712 | n/a | $8,601 |
| One hospital’s negotiated facility rates, laparoscopic inguinal 49650 | $2,807 | n/a | $19,311 |
| Average submitted surgeon charge, 49505 (2024 national claims) | n/a | $2,698 | n/a |
| Medicare allowed surgeon amount, 49505 (2024 national claims) | n/a | $575 | n/a |
The bundled prices come from three centers that post them. Surgery Center of Oklahoma lists $3,870 for an open inguinal repair (CPT 49505), $3,708 umbilical, $3,720 ventral, $3,532 femoral, $5,225 incisional, $5,285 bilateral, $6,705 laparoscopic one side, $8,673 laparoscopic both sides, and $13,707 for hiatal repair with a laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication, all with mesh excluded. California Hernia Specialists in Newport Beach lists $4,982 open inguinal, $5,512 open umbilical or ventral, $5,724 laparoscopic inguinal, $8,268 open bilateral inguinal and $7,950 laparoscopic bilateral, with mesh, anesthesia, facility and follow-up included. NTTC Surgery Center lists $6,325 for CPT 49650 inguinal repair, $9,775 bilateral, $5,405 for open ventral or umbilical, and $7,130 laparoscopic, excluding implantable devices.
The Medicare rows are not what a self-pay patient pays. They are the cleanest measure of what each version of the operation is worth, and they explain why the cash prices sort the way they do.
What Drives the Price
Open versus laparoscopic versus robotic
This is the largest single lever. An open inguinal repair is CPT 49505. A laparoscopic one is 49650, or 49651 if the hernia has come back. Under the July 2026 CMS ASC addenda, the surgery center facility payment is $1,744.22 for 49505 and $3,030.97 for 49650, a 74 percent jump for the same anatomy. The published cash prices follow: Surgery Center of Oklahoma’s laparoscopic price is $2,835 more than its open price.
Robotic repair is generally billed under the same laparoscopic codes, so the code itself hides it. A quote that says “laparoscopic” may or may not mean a robot, and none of the published price lists in this guide carry a separate robotic line. That is worth a direct question to the surgeon’s office, because a longer operating room booking is the part of a robotic case that a self-pay patient ends up paying for, and it is invisible on the CPT code.
The same pattern shows up across the other price lists. California Hernia Specialists charges $4,982 for an open inguinal repair and $5,724 for a laparoscopic one. NTTC Surgery Center charges $5,405 for an open ventral or umbilical repair and $7,130 for a laparoscopic repair.
Which hernia, and how big it is
The 2023 CPT overhaul renumbered abdominal wall hernia repair around defect size, and Medicare now prices it that way. CPT 49591 covers an initial anterior abdominal wall repair under 3 cm, 49593 covers 3 to 10 cm, and 49595 covers more than 10 cm. Under the July 2026 ASC addenda the facility rate is $1,744.22 for 49591 and $3,365.12 for both 49593 and 49595. At a hospital outpatient department it is $3,657.95 versus $6,614.04. Recurrent repairs (49613 and up) price higher again, and Surgery Center of Oklahoma simply adds a flat $915 recurrent hernia fee.
Hiatal and paraesophageal repair sits above all of it. CPT 43281 pays $5,120.50 at a surgery center and $10,860.07 at a hospital outpatient department. Parastomal repair (49621) is not payable in either setting under the July 2026 rules, meaning Medicare treats it as an inpatient operation, which is a signal that a same-day cash quote for one should be read carefully.
Where the operation is booked
The same code costs roughly double at a hospital outpatient department. Open inguinal repair is $2,252 all-in at a surgery center under 2026 Medicare rates and $4,166 at a hospital. Laparoscopic inguinal is $3,455 versus $6,601. Hiatal is $6,545 versus $12,285. If your surgeon operates at both, asking which one your case is scheduled at is the highest-value question you can ask before signing anything.
The mesh
Most adult repairs use mesh, and it is the line item most likely to sit outside a quote. Surgery Center of Oklahoma’s entire hernia price section carries the header note that the price does not include the mesh required. NTTC’s flat-rate program states it does not include implantable devices. California Hernia Specialists includes mesh. Until you know which of those three models a quote follows, the numbers are not comparable, and the highest-looking price may actually be the lowest.
Everything around the operation
A quote usually covers the operation, not the path to it. Budget separately for the surgical consultation, any imaging used to confirm or size the hernia, pre-operative labs and an EKG if one is required, and follow-up. California Hernia Specialists states that pre-operative bloodwork and EKG are the only additional charges in its model. If your quote is not truly all-inclusive, the bill that most often arrives uninvited is the anesthesia bill, which our guide to anesthesia cost covers, and imaging can be priced separately using our ultrasound cost guide.
Cash Price vs. Insurance
The gap between what gets billed and what gets paid is unusually wide for hernia repair. In 2024 national Medicare claims released in May 2026, the average submitted surgeon charge for CPT 49505 was $2,698.48 against a Medicare allowed amount of $574.96 across 38,535 services. For laparoscopic 49650 it was $2,659.54 submitted against $532.10 allowed across 80,530 services. Those submitted charges are the surgeon’s fee alone, with no facility and no anesthesia in them.
The facility side is wider still. Huntsville Hospital’s machine-readable file for Madison Hospital, dated March 27 2026, shows outpatient facility rates for CPT 49650 running from $2,807 at the low end to $19,311.02 at the high end across payers at the same hospital for the same code. For an open inguinal repair the same file shows $2,712.10 to $8,600.82. A single building with a seven-fold internal spread is not a place where a first quote should be accepted as fixed. Our guide to hospital price transparency walks through pulling a facility’s own posted rate for a CPT code before you call.
Paying cash also has a real trade-off. The money does not count toward a deductible or an out-of-pocket maximum, so if you expect other large claims this year, price both routes before deciding.
How to Pay Less
Get the exact CPT code before you shop. Ask the surgeon’s office which code will be billed, and whether the plan is open, laparoscopic or robotic. 49505, 49650, 49591 and 43281 are four different price tiers, and quotes are only comparable within a tier.
Ask three surgery centers for a bundled price. The published lists in this guide cluster tightly for the same operation, which tells you a fair bundled price for a single open repair is roughly $3,500 to $6,300 and for a laparoscopic inguinal repair about $5,700 to $7,100 as of September 2026. Run any quote you get through our fair price checker before agreeing to it.
Ask whether mesh, the consultation and follow-up are inside the number. This one question moves totals by more than shopping between centers does. Get the answer in writing.
Ask for the self-pay discount before scheduling, not after the bill. Hospitals almost always have a posted uninsured discount that is applied on request rather than automatically. If a bill has already arrived, our medical bill negotiation guide has the language to use, and requesting an itemized hospital bill first is what makes the negotiation possible.
Check charity care before assuming you do not qualify. Nonprofit hospitals must maintain financial assistance policies, and income thresholds are often well above the federal poverty line. Our hospital charity care guide and the charity care checker show how to find and apply to a specific hospital’s program.
If the repair is elective, do not let a quote expire into an emergency. A hernia repaired on a schedule is an outpatient case with a bundled price. The same hernia repaired urgently is an inpatient admission, and our guide to hospital stay cost per day shows what that changes. This is a cost observation, not medical advice, and the timing decision belongs with your surgeon.
The Bottom Line
Budget $3,500 to $6,300 for a single open hernia repair as a bundled cash price at a surgery center in September 2026, $5,700 to $7,100 for a laparoscopic inguinal repair on one side, and around $13,700 if the repair is hiatal with a fundoplication. Add mesh, the consultation and pre-operative labs unless a quote says otherwise in writing.
The figure to hold onto is the setting spread. July 2026 Medicare rates put the all-in cost of an open inguinal repair at $2,252 at an ambulatory surgery center and $4,166 at a hospital outpatient department, and $6,545 versus $12,285 for a hiatal repair. Where the case is booked decides roughly half the bill. Other general surgery operations behave identically, which is why our gallbladder removal, hemorrhoid surgery and thyroidectomy guides all open with the same question.