News & Information

A pacemaker is a small device that produces a series of electrical impulses in order to regulate abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias). During arrhythmia, the heart may not pump enough blood to keep your body functioning, resulting in fatigue, shortness of breath, unconsciousness or even death. After heart failure, a pacemaker may be installed to keep your heart beating at a normal rate.

Pacemakers are not cheap! According to the Healthcare Blue Book, the current costs of a pacemaker implant procedure can be split up into three categories:

1. Physician services. Approximately $852. This includes the physician’s fee for services and the cost of standard post-operative care.
2. Hospital services. Approximately $20,407. This covers the cost of the device, the cost of the surgery and a standard term of 5 days in the hospital. Additional days are usually billed at around $1800 per day.
3. Anesthesia services. Approximately $1,476. This figure is based on a standard 2-hour surgery. Price may increase or decrease slightly, depending on the length of the surgical procedure.

Standard health insurance may not cover the cost of a pacemaker or other heart-failure-related expenses. If you believe you are at risk for heart disease, you should take out a critical illness insurance policy to ensure that you will be able to deal with the costs of heart failure. CancerPlans.com provides a broad spectrum of supplemental insurance policies from respected critical illness insurance carriers.

(1) http://healthcarebluebook.com/page_Results.aspx?id=47&dataset=MD