Cheapest Australian states for surgery

Since 2013, health sector prices have increased an average of 2.56% per year, with a sharp 4.93% jump from 2022 to 2024 (outpacing the 4.60% inflation rate), highlighting the rising cost of healthcare.¹https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/health-welfare-expenditure/health-expenditure-australia-2023-24/contents/overview/the-health-sector-relative-to-the-economy These rising out-of-pocket costs could leave many patients and their families struggling to cover medical expenses. 

Health costs aren’t the only statistic rising; elective surgery waiting lists increased by 3.1% in 2024-25 compared with 2023-24.²https://www.aihw.gov.au/hospitals/topics/elective-surgery Seeing these increases piqued the interest of the team at health insurance comparison service iSelect, so we dove into discovering which Australian state is the cheapest for surgery.  

To find the cheapest state, we looked at what out-of-pocket costs Australians are paying for 139 surgeries on the Australian Government’s Medical Costs Finder website. We then averaged the costs of all these surgeries across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia to determine our final ranking. The Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania were excluded from the rankings due to a lack of pricing data for several procedures. 

So which state was the cheapest? What were the cheapest and most expensive procedures? What are the lowest- and highest-cost surgery categories? Read on to find out those answers. 

Which Australian state is the cheapest for surgery?  

1. South Australia  

South Australia (SA) takes the crown for the cheapest Australian state for average out-of-pocket surgery costs at AUD$618.50 per procedure.  

A major reason why Australia’s fourth-largest state was the cheapest nationally for almost two‑thirds (63.6%) of procedures (ties included). Western Australia came next (21.4%), then Victoria (12.1%), Queensland (9.3%), and New South Wales (7.1%). 

The state also led in 13 of 17 categories, including assisted reproductive, eye/ENT/cataracts, gynaecology, joint reconstructions and joint replacements, plastic and reconstructive, and weight loss. 

Some of the cheapest procedures South Australians have access to are out-of-hospital nose, sinus, pharynx or larynx endoscopy ($28), out-of-hospital rubber band ligation/haemorrhoids ($39), and percutaneous coronary intervention with angiography ($50). 

2. Victoria  

Following South Australia in second place is its eastern neighbour, Victoria, which had an average out-of-pocket price of $862.22. 

Victoria was the cheapest nationally for 16 procedures (12.1%), including valve repair ($450), pacemaker installation/insertion ($50), and carpal tunnel release ($320). Despite this, it was often below the national average cost for many individual surgeries, including breast biopsy ($390 vs. $536) and femoral/inguinal hernia repair ($380 vs. $506). 

The only category in which Victoria was the cheapest state was lung and chest ($445), which includes procedures such as lung wedge resection and pneumonectomy/lobectomy (removal of part or all of a lung).  

3. Western Australia  

Coming in third place is Australia’s largest state, Western Australia (WA), with West Aussies paying an average procedure cost of $962.  

Western Australia was the cheapest state for three clinical categories: gastrointestinal endoscopy, heart and vascular, and pregnancy and birth. 

The state also had the lowest costs for 32 procedures, including transluminal stent insertion ($30), out-of-hospital endoscopy of the nose, sinus, pharynx or larynx ($16), and percutaneous coronary intervention ($90).  

4. Queensland 

Finishing just shy of the podium with an average procedure cost of $993.49 is Queensland (QLD). 

Australia’s northeastern state offered the lowest price nationally for 9.3% of the surgeries we analysed, including procedures such as out-of-hospital vasectomy ($436) and corneal graft surgery ($500). 

The only category in which Queensland had the lowest average out-of-pocket costs compared to fellow states was kidney and bladder, which includes surgeries such as small bladder tumour resection and partial or radical nephrectomy (kidney removal).  

5. New South Wales 

Taking fifth place in our rankings but first in the most expensive leaderboard is New South Wales (NSW), with an average surgery cost of a whopping $1,490.72! 

NSW’s average cost is nearly two-and-a-half times higher than South Australia’s. It was also the priciest state for 90 of the surgeries we looked at. In other states, Queensland had 39 of the most expensive surgeries, Victoria 17, WA 11, and SA just three. 

Some of the eight cheapest procedures included out-of-hospital intrauterine device (IUD) implant and removal ($80) and a heart angiogram ($50). 

What are the cheapest and most expensive surgeries and procedure categories?  

The cheapest surgery in our research was an out-of-hospital endoscopy examination of the nose, sinus, pharynx, or larynx, with a national average out-of-pocket cost for patients of $34. 

Other low-cost procedures included out-of-hospital rubber band ligation for haemorrhoids ($68), pacemaker ($80), out-of-hospital intrauterine device (IUD) implantation and removal ($89.80), and percutaneous coronary intervention with angiography ($92).  

The most expensive was breast reduction surgery, which cost patients an average of $7,820 out-of-pocket across the nation.  

Other expensive procedures included abdominal lipectomy ($7,580), total prostatectomy ($5,860), bilateral hip replacement ($5,633.33) and rhinoplasty ($4,380). 

Among clinical categories, gastrointestinal endoscopy was the least expensive nationally at $164.67 per surgery. Following it was heart and vascular at $314.15 and skin at $315, showing vital heart surgeries like pacemakers and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and skin procedures like medium melanoma removals have lower out-of-pocket costs.  

Weight loss surgery, including abdominal lipectomy, gastric bypass, and sleeve gastrectomy (partial stomach removal), was the most expensive category at $3,336 per procedure. The next two most costly categories nationally were kidney and bladder ($2,431.33) and male reproductive system procedures ($2,132.55). 

What are the differences in surgery costs across Australian states?

Some of the cost differences per procedure across states were staggering! The widest gap was between Queensland and Western Australia for a corneal graft surgery, with costs that were approximately nine times higher in WA ($5,000) than in QLD ($500). 

Other big cost gaps included almost eight times higher for a total prostatectomy with lymphadenectomy ($1,000 for Victoria/QLD vs $8,700 for NSW) and more than five-and-a-half times more expensive for a double breast reconstruction with tissue expansion ($910 for SA vs $6,000 for QLD). 

Some notable gaps in everyday procedure costs were between South Australia and New South Wales: knee and hip replacement costs ($500 in SA vs $2,500 in NSW for knee, and $500 in SA vs $2,900 in NSW for hip), and tonsillectomy ($500 in SA vs $1,600 in NSW).