Heart Bypass Surgery Costs Less In Idaho Survey Says Operation Cost Averages $28,520 In Idaho, $33,350 In Washington, And $92,060 In Nevada

No one wants to have heart surgery, but it is cheaper to have it done in Idaho than almost anywhere else in the nation.

Heart bypass surgery, according to a New York Metropolitan Life Insurance study released last week, is less expensive in Idaho than in all but one other state.

The total bill for hospital and doctors’ fees averaged $28,520. Only West Virginia, at $28,500, was lower.

Just across the state line, patients in Nevada pay the highest costs in the nation.

The total bill for a coronary bypass there is $92,060. Prices in other neighboring states are Wyoming, $30,380; Washington, $33,350; Utah, $38,220; Oregon, $41,680; Montana, $42,460.

Met Life’s frequency of claims for bypass surgery were low in most Western states.

Texas filed more claims than the Mountain States and New England combined.

“They eat heavier foods in the South,” Smith said, “but I don’t think our diet is necessarily healthier than other parts of the country. I think it’s more that physicians here are more conservative in selecting people who will benefit. Some can be treated successfully with angioplasties instead of bypasses.”

Fees for angioplasties, in which balloons are inflated inside arteries to remove blockages, also are low in Idaho.

The $14,490 cost was fourth lowest in the nation, behind New Hampshire, Maryland and West Virginia.

Hawaii’s $40,320 was by far the highest.

Part of the reason for the study’s low frequency of coronary-related claims in Idaho is that the study covers only Met Life claims.

But the state’s largest insurer, Blue Cross of Idaho, reports similar findings.

“Frequency of treatment is lower across the board in Idaho,” said Tracy Andrus, Blue Cross vice president of public affairs.

“It’s the conservative nature of our people and physicians. We don’t see unnecessary procedures in Idaho.”

The Western penchant for independence may also be a factor.

“It’s that pioneering spirit,” Idaho Medical Association Director Bob Seehusen said.

“We may not go to a physician as often as people elsewhere. On the East Coast, data has always shown that utilization is greater. That’s the way they practice. But what becomes standard in one part of the country may not be standard in a more rural, Western-oriented state.”

Blue Cross’s Idaho figures on costs of coronary bypass surgery are slightly higher than Met Life’s, but well below the national average of $44,800.

Idaho’s fees were significantly lower than the national average for both hospitals and physicians.

The average hospital bill for a coronary bypass in Idaho was $22,010. The national average was $32,820.

At $6,510, Idaho physicians’ fees for bypasses are a little over half the national average of $12,000.

“I think that’s been the case for a long time,” Seehusen said.

“Hospital and physician reimbursement rates for most procedures are a third to a half less expensive than in many parts of the country.”

Idaho’s average hospital stay for a bypass, according to Met Life, was 6.6 days - ninth shortest in the nation.

The longest was Iowa at 10.55 days. New Mexico’s five-day stay was shortest.