Heart Valve Surgery and TAVI Cost Calculator

Heart Valve Surgery and TAVI Cost Calculator helps estimate Korea-related hospital procedure, surgery, recovery, complication reserve, and insurance scenarios in English.

Health cost scenario inputs

Enter Korea-related chronic care, eldercare, therapy, procedure, fertility, diagnostic, or medical tourism assumptions. Results are simplified planning estimates.

Procedure gross quote

₩8,000,000

Insurance or support amount

₩3,000,000

Estimated self-pay with reserve

₩6,250,000

Monthly reserve target

₩1,041,667

6 month plan

This English page is a simplified Korea-related health, eldercare, therapy, chronic disease, fertility, non-covered care, or medical tourism planning estimate. It is not medical advice and does not replace diagnosis, treatment decisions, insurer review, hospital quotes, or government benefit decisions.

Related calculators

Heart valve surgery and TAVI cost calculator

This English page follows the Korean heart valve cost guide for TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation), SAVR (surgical aortic valve replacement), mitral valve repair, mitral valve replacement, MitraClip transcatheter mitral therapy, and double-valve surgery, keeping the same pure calculation model for procedure type, TAVI surgical-risk group, valve type, cardiac special-case copay, ICU days, ward days, room, caregiver, private indemnity, and tax credit.

Procedure fees and the TAVI risk-group rule

TAVI uses KRW 33,000,000 as the covered base fee because the transcatheter valve alone is about KRW 30,300,000 of the roughly KRW 33,700,000 total procedure cost. SAVR uses KRW 16,000,000 (surgical valve about KRW 2,860,000), mitral valve repair uses KRW 15,000,000, mitral valve replacement uses KRW 16,000,000, MitraClip uses KRW 40,000,000 for the expensive clip, and double-valve surgery uses KRW 22,000,000.

The key differentiator is that TAVI copay depends on the surgical-risk group. Inoperable patients, high-risk patients (STS 8% or higher), and patients aged 80 or older are covered and pay 5% under cardiac special-case registration (about KRW 1.5 to 1.7 million). Intermediate-risk patients (STS 4 to 8%) fall under selective benefit at 50% (about KRW 17 million), and low-risk patients (STS under 4%) fall under selective benefit at 80% (about KRW 27 million).

  • Covered ward fee is KRW 100,000 per inpatient day; ICU fee is KRW 500,000 per day for open-heart recovery.
  • MitraClip is fixed at 50% selective benefit regardless of special-case registration.
  • Selective-benefit copay (intermediate or low-risk TAVI, MitraClip) is excluded from both the 5% special-case rate and the annual copay ceiling refund.
  • Open-heart procedures (SAVR, mitral repair or replacement, double valve) use median sternotomy and a bypass machine, so ICU days and recovery differ from transcatheter procedures.

Cardiac special-case, mechanical vs tissue valve

Cardiac disease special-case registration reduces the covered copay to 5% for up to 30 days per surgery (up to 60 days for complex congenital heart disease or heart transplant). Ordinary inpatient copay is 20%. This 5% never applies to the selective-benefit portion of intermediate or low-risk TAVI and MitraClip.

Mechanical valves last a very long time but require lifelong anticoagulation (warfarin) with INR monitoring, so they suit younger patients. Tissue (bioprosthetic) valves need only short-term anticoagulation but degenerate in 10 to 15 years and may need reoperation or a valve-in-valve TAVI, so they suit older patients and all transcatheter procedures. Valve type is informational and does not change the fee.

How to read the result

The estimate separates covered procedure fee, covered ICU fee, covered ward fee, room surcharge, pain-control injection, caregiver cost, private indemnity reimbursement, and the Korean medical expense tax credit (3% of salary threshold, 15% credit rate, with no KRW 7,000,000 cap for special-case registered cardiac patients).

This is a cost-planning estimate based on 2026 Korean rules, not medical advice. Because low-risk TAVI can cost far more out of pocket than covered SAVR, the calculator shows a TAVI vs SAVR comparison so patients can weigh the value of avoiding open-heart surgery against the extra cost. The TAVI team (cardiology, cardiac surgery, anesthesiology, radiology) must agree before TAVI is performed.