Editing Appendectomy (section)

==Cost==

===United States===
While appendectomy is a standard surgical procedure, its cost has been found to vary considerably in the United States. A 2012 study <!-- from the [[University of California, San Francisco]], published in the ''[[Archives of Internal Medicine]]'' --> analyzed 2009 data from nearly 20,000 adult patients treated for appendicitis in California hospitals. Researchers examined "only uncomplicated episodes of acute appendicitis" that involved "visits for patients 18 to 59 years old with hospitalization that lasted fewer than four days with routine discharges to home." The lowest charge for removal of an appendix was $1,529 and the highest $182,955, almost 120 times greater. The median charge was $33,611.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/health/health-care-market-good-appendicitis-case-study/ | title=Health Care as a 'Market Good'? Appendicitis as a Case Study | access-date=2012-04-27 | archive-date=2014-11-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110015019/http://journalistsresource.org/studies/society/health/health-care-market-good-appendicitis-case-study/ | url-status=live }} JournalistsResource.org, retrieved April 25, 2012</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hsia | first1 = Renee Y. | last2 = Kothari | first2 = Abbas H. | last3 = Srebotnjak | first3 = Tanja | last4 = Maselli | first4 = Judy | year = 2012 | title = Health Care as a 'Market Good'? Appendicitis as a Case Study | journal = Archives of Internal Medicine | url = http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/archinternmed.2012.1173v1 | doi = 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.1173 | volume = 172 | issue = 10 | pages = 818–9 | pmid = 22529183 | pmc = 3624019 | access-date = 2012-04-27 | archive-date = 2020-02-20 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200220193402/https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/full/archinternmed.2012.1173v1 | url-status = live }}</ref> While the study was limited to California, the researchers indicated that the results were applicable anywhere in the United States. Many, but not all, patients are covered by some sort of [[health insurance in the United States|medical insurance]].<ref name="fl120424">{{Cite news | first=Lindsey | last=Tanner | title=Study finds appendectomy could cost as much as house | url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2012/04/24/appendectomy-might-cost-1500--or-180000.html | newspaper=[[Florida Today]] | location=Melbourne, Florida | pages=6A | date=April 24, 2012 | access-date=April 25, 2012 | archive-date=April 1, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401175459/https://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2012/04/24/appendectomy-might-cost-1500--or-180000.html | url-status=live }}</ref><!---the hard copy and soft copy sources are different. They are, however, the same article-->

A study by the [[Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality]] found that in 2010, the average cost for a stay in the United States involving appendicitis was $7,800. For stays where the appendix had ruptured, the average cost was $12,800. The majority of patients seen in the hospital were covered by private insurance.<ref name="hcup-us.ahrq.gov"/>