Knee Cartilage Regeneration Surgery Cost Calculator helps estimate Korea-related surgery, procedure, insurance support, and recovery-cost assumptions in English.
Enter Korea-related health, medical cost, screening, maternity, dental, eye, or surgery assumptions. Results are simplified planning estimates.
Procedure gross cost
₩8,700,000
Insurance or support amount
₩0
Estimated self-pay amount
₩8,700,000
Recovery reserve add-on
₩870,000
3 month recovery
This English screen is a simplified budget planner for knee cartilage procedures in South Korea. The detailed Korean implementation separates microfracture, OATS, Chondron and Cartistem, covered hospital charges, non-covered products, rehabilitation, private insurance and the medical-expense tax credit. HIRA OATS recognition requires age 15-55, osteochondritis dissecans or a focal traumatic cartilage/osteochondral defect, a femoral-condyle lesion measuring 1.5-4.0 cm², and Outerbridge grade III or higher with objective records. Outside those criteria, the procedure fee and main material use an 80% selective-benefit patient share; the ordinary inpatient planning rate is 20%. A published HIRA case classifies the Cartistem drug as non-covered, but other surgery and admission lines can have separate benefit status. Starting figures are editable examples, not official fees or national averages. This tool does not replace diagnosis, a hospital itemised quote, HIRA review, insurer confirmation or tax advice.
A Korean knee cartilage procedure rarely produces one simple price.
The hospital bill may combine NHIS-covered surgery, anesthesia, tests and inpatient care with a non-covered cell product, implant, room upgrade or rehabilitation service.
A product price quoted online may therefore be only one line of the complete bill.
This guide separates four planning scenarios: microfracture, osteochondral autograft transfer surgery known as OATS or mosaicplasty, autologous cultured chondrocyte implantation associated with Chondron, and surgery using the umbilical-cord-blood-derived mesenchymal stem-cell product Cartistem.
It also explains the published Korean OATS benefit gate, the distinction between a covered procedure and a non-covered drug, private indemnity insurance input, and the medical-expense tax credit.
The calculator does not decide whether cartilage can regenerate, whether surgery is appropriate, or which procedure has the best outcome.
A Korean physician must assess the diagnosis, lesion, alignment, bone, meniscus and ligament status, while the hospital, HIRA, insurer and tax records determine the actual financial result.
Small perforations are made through the subchondral surface so marrow elements can enter the defect.
The cost screen treats the hospital-designated covered portion as an ordinary inpatient benefit scenario, but it does not determine whether the lesion is an appropriate size or type for marrow stimulation.
Autologous osteochondral plugs are moved from a lower-load donor area into a focal defect.
This is the procedure for which the calculator applies a specific HIRA gate: age 15 to 55, an accepted diagnosis, femoral-condyle location, lesion area from 1.5 to 4.0 square centimetres, and Outerbridge grade III or higher.
Autologous cartilage cells are harvested, cultured and later implanted into the defect in a staged treatment pathway.
Ask the hospital to identify harvesting, culture or product, implantation, anesthesia, tests and admission as separate covered or non-covered lines because a single package total hides the reimbursement boundary.
Cartistem is an allogeneic umbilical-cord-blood-derived mesenchymal stem-cell product applied to a cartilage defect during surgery.
A published HIRA case explains that the Cartistem drug is non-covered because it is not listed for NHIS drug reimbursement.
That statement does not mean every surgery, anesthesia, test and room line on the same admission is automatically non-covered.
A focal traumatic defect, osteochondritis dissecans and diffuse degenerative osteoarthritis are not the same clinical problem.
The budget rows are financial examples only and do not assume equal indications, durability, recovery or benefit.
HIRA publishes a five-part recognition standard for knee osteochondral autograft transfer.
All five conditions must be documented, and the calculator can only compare the values entered by the user with the published thresholds.
It cannot inspect the medical record or issue an NHIS approval.
| Criterion | Published requirement | Evidence to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis | Osteochondritis dissecans or a focal traumatic cartilage or osteochondral defect | Diagnosis and clinical record |
| Site | Femoral condyle | MRI or arthroscopy record |
| Area | 1.5 to 4.0 cm² inclusive | Recorded dimensions or area |
| Damage grade | Outerbridge grade III or higher | Objective grade documentation |
| Age | 15 to 55 years inclusive | Age on the procedure date |
When the published criteria are not met, the HIRA rule states that the procedure fee and main treatment material are subject to an 80% patient selective-benefit share.
The endpoints are inclusive, so age 15 and 55 and lesion areas of 1.5 and 4.0 cm² pass the numeric screen, while age 56 or 4.01 cm² does not.
An input pass still requires the accepted diagnosis, femoral-condyle site, objective grade and final review.
South Korea does not have one nationwide consumer price for cartilage-regeneration surgery.
The bill changes with provider, lesion count, product quantity, combined procedures, admission, room, tests and rehabilitation.
Public non-covered-price information can help users inspect provider disclosures, but it does not turn a provider-specific amount into a national fixed price.
| Procedure | Covered quote example | Non-covered quote example | Planning rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microfracture | KRW 2,500,000 | KRW 0 | 20% on entered covered amount |
| OATS | KRW 4,500,000 | KRW 0 | 20% if gate passes, otherwise 80% |
| Chondron scenario | KRW 3,500,000 | KRW 5,500,000 | 20% only on entered covered amount |
| Cartistem scenario | KRW 3,500,000 | KRW 8,000,000 | 20% on covered entry, 100% on non-covered entry |
The values exist only so that the formula has a transparent starting scenario.
Replace both quote fields with a hospital estimate before using the result for a financial decision.
A low or high web advertisement should not replace an itemised quote that identifies benefit status, product quantity and included services.
covered patient share = covered quote per knee × number of knees × automatic rate
non-covered medical total = non-covered quote per knee × knees + extra medical cost + rehabilitation
medical out-of-pocket = covered patient share + non-covered medical total
The insurer-confirmed payment is capped at the medical out-of-pocket amount so that an excessive entry cannot create a negative medical bill.
Non-medical recovery cash such as transport, caregiver support or income interruption is added after the medical calculation and is not treated as an eligible medical expense.
Under Income Tax Act Article 59-4, the simplified model uses a threshold equal to 3% of gross salary and a 15% credit rate.
The patient enters other annual eligible medical expenses after insurance reimbursement.
The model calculates the tax credit before this procedure and after adding the procedure, then subtracts only the increase attributable to this procedure.
The ordinary-family option limits eligible spending to KRW 7,000,000, while the self, age-65-plus, disability and other statutory uncapped group is modeled without that cap.
Net burden equals cash need minus confirmed insurance and the incremental tax-credit estimate.
The user-selected variation percentage is added and subtracted to form a budget range.
This is a reserve band, not a statistical confidence interval or a prediction of clinical complications.
A 40-year-old with a focal traumatic defect on the femoral condyle, area 2.5 cm² and Outerbridge grade III passes the input screen.
A KRW 4,500,000 covered quote at 20% creates a KRW 900,000 covered patient share.
Adding KRW 500,000 of other medical cost and twelve rehabilitation sessions at KRW 50,000 produces KRW 2,000,000 medical out-of-pocket.
With KRW 500,000 recovery cash, no insurance payment, KRW 50,000,000 salary and KRW 500,000 of other eligible medical expense in the uncapped group, the incremental credit estimate is KRW 150,000 and net burden is KRW 2,350,000.
If the same patient is 56 or the recorded area is 4.01 cm², the detailed calculator applies an 80% selective-benefit patient rate.
The patient portion of the KRW 4,500,000 covered quote becomes KRW 3,600,000 instead of KRW 900,000.
This is an outside-criteria planning result, not a declaration that every line is non-covered.
The initial scenario separates KRW 3,500,000 of potentially covered hospital care from KRW 8,000,000 of non-covered product and material budget.
Only the entered covered amount receives the ordinary 20% planning rate, while the non-covered entry remains 100% patient responsibility before private insurance.
Both figures must be replaced because they are formula examples and not guaranteed Korean prices.
A search for cartilage regeneration does not mean every knee condition is at the same treatment stage.
Knee arthroplasty for extensive end-stage degeneration has a different purpose and bill from a focal-defect OATS procedure.
ACL or PCL reconstruction and meniscus repair or resection address instability or tearing and should be quoted separately when combined with cartilage work.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare new-health-technology notice effective July 7, 2026 includes an intra-articular bone-marrow-aspirate-concentrate procedure for Kellgren-Lawrence grade 2 to 3 knee osteoarthritis.
That technique harvests iliac-crest marrow, concentrates it and gives a single intra-articular injection.
It is not merged into this calculator because an injection procedure is not the same intervention or cost pathway as the four cartilage surgeries discussed here.
No.
It is an editable formula example, not an official fee, national average or price guarantee.
Replace it with the hospital's product and material quote.
No.
The screen checks five user-entered conditions, while the actual decision requires diagnosis, imaging, objective grading, operative documentation and review.
No.
It is a selective-benefit patient share for the procedure fee and main material when published criteria are not met, which is a different claim category from non-covered care.
The cited HIRA case identifies the Cartistem drug as non-covered.
Surgery, anesthesia, tests, admission and other materials can have separate benefit classifications, so request line-item treatment.
The detailed calculator doubles per-knee entries, but shared tests, admission and provider pricing may not double in a real bilateral quote.
If the hospital gives one bilateral package, treat that itemised bilateral total as the controlling estimate.
Generation alone does not capture issue date, rider, deductible, non-covered limit, exclusion or prior contract terms.
A direct insurer estimate is more transparent than a confident but contract-blind formula.
No.
It is an incremental estimate using the 3% salary threshold, 15% rate and selected cap.
Actual refund depends on eligible records, family classification, insurance reimbursement and available tax liability.
No.
The current Korean new-technology item describes marrow harvest, concentration and one intra-articular injection, while Cartistem is a separate cell-product surgery pathway.
The following official Korean sources were reviewed on July 19, 2026.
The legal and benefit sources support the rule boundaries, but they do not certify the editable hospital-price examples.
Enter the covered hospital quote, non-covered product or material quote, rehabilitation plan and insurer-confirmed amount separately.
Review the range with the hospital and insurer before treating it as money available for surgery.