Does Medicare cover cataract surgery?

After deductibles are met, Medicare covers the costs of cataract surgery. There may be other costs involved that are the patients' responsibility, to be covered by secondary insurance or out-of-pocket.

The cost to a patient also depends on whether the procedure is inpatient or outpatient, but generally cataract surgery is an outpatient procedure. During the surgery, the natural lens of the eye is removed and replaced with an artificial one. Cataracts, if left untreated, can cause blindness, and are a leading contributor of blindness throughout the world. Many factors, especially age, cause this clouding of the eye lens, making vision more difficult over time.