Robotic Surgery Cost Korea 2026: 10 New Codes and How to Check

How much does robotic surgery cost in Korea in 2026, and what changed?

Robotic surgery cost in Korea can now be compared one operation at a time, and the same procedure costs up to 2.6 times more at some hospitals than at others. In the 2026 national disclosure, the median posted lowest price was about 7 million won for robotic cholecystectomy and about 10 million won each for thyroid, rectal and prostate cancer surgery. Those figures come from the first study of the new procedure-level prices, which covered 115 hospitals and was reported by Kyungbuk Maeil.

Before 2026, no such comparison existed. The robotic part of an operation is non-covered (bigeubyeo), meaning each hospital sets its own price and the patient pays all of it. Covered services work differently: the government sets the fee and National Health Insurance pays most of it. Hospitals used to post one combined robot-surgery price. In April 2026 that item was split into 10 procedure-specific codes, such as cholecystectomy and prostate cancer surgery. On September 3, 2026, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW, Bogeon Bokjibu) and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA, Geongang Boheom Simsa Pyeongga-won) published the first prices under the new codes on the HIRA website and in the Health e-Eum app.

The release rests on the Medical Service Act. Article 45-2 requires medical institutions to report non-covered items and fees to the government, and Article 45 requires them to inform patients of those fees. MediPharm Health News counts 753 items in 2026: 460 procedures, 262 treatment materials and 31 certificate fees. That is 60 more than the 693 items of 2025, an 8.7% rise by our calculation. The MOHW frames the disclosure as protecting patients' right to information and plans to keep improving it. Robotic surgery shows why that work matters, because a code-level price only partly answers 'how much will I pay?'

In this report:

• How much does robotic surgery cost in Korea in 2026, and what changed?
• What does the 2026 HIRA price distribution show for robotic surgery?
• Why do robotic surgery prices differ between hospitals in Korea?
• How did non-covered prices and robotic surgery coverage change in 2026?
• How can you check a robotic surgery price in Korea before and after surgery?
• What do patients ask most about robotic surgery cost in Korea?
• What should robotic surgery patients in Korea check, and what changes next?
• What else should you read on Korea's non-covered prices?

What does the 2026 HIRA price distribution show for robotic surgery?

The widely quoted medians mark the bottom of each hospital's posted range, not a typical bill. Kim Woo-jae (Dong-Yang University) and Kim Koo-sang (Kosin University College of Medicine) analyzed 733 price entries from 115 hospitals across the 10 codes. Their study appeared in the Journal of Robotic Surgery in November 2026. Of those 733 entries, 81.4% were ranges with a lowest and a highest amount, and only 18.6% were single prices. The 7 million and 10 million won figures are medians of the lowest amounts, so a patient placed in an upper tier pays more, even at an average-priced hospital.

Procedure (2026 robotic code)	Median posted lowest price (won)	90th/10th percentile ratio	Higher-priced hospital at that ratio (won)*
Cholecystectomy	about 7,000,000	1.7 to 2.6x	11,900,000 to 18,200,000
Thyroid cancer surgery	about 10,000,000	1.7 to 2.6x	17,000,000 to 26,000,000
Rectal (colorectal) cancer surgery	about 10,000,000	1.7 to 2.6x	17,000,000 to 26,000,000
Prostate cancer surgery	about 10,000,000	1.7 to 2.6x	17,000,000 to 26,000,000
All 10 codes	115 hospitals, 733 entries	1.7 to 2.6x (range across codes)	n/a

Unit: won per operation, 2026 HIRA disclosure. Source: Kyungbuk Maeil report of the Kim Woo-jae team's study. *Our calculation, with the lower-priced hospital posting the 2026 median lowest price. Per-code minimum, quartile and maximum values come from the HIRA lookup.

On a 10 million won operation, the 1.7x to 2.6x spread means a premium of 7 million to 16 million won. For cholecystectomy, the premium is 4.9 million to 11.2 million won.

As a ratio, that spread is moderate within the 2026 release. MediPharm Health News reported a 70,000 won median and a 175,000 won maximum for extracorporeal shock-wave therapy at clinics (2.5x), and 50,000 won against 201,000 won for prolotherapy (4.0x). Those are median-to-maximum ratios, which include the single most expensive institution. The robotic figure is a 90th-to-10th percentile ratio that drops both extremes, so for the code at 2.6x the full minimum-to-maximum spread is at least that wide. In won, the smallest robotic gap (4.9 million won) is about 47 times the 105,000 won shock-wave gap from our shock-wave therapy cost analysis.

For any code, the HIRA lookup lists each reporting hospital's lowest and highest price. Readers can derive the minimum, quartiles, median and maximum from it and compare them with the item distributions on Korea Non-covered Medical Price Statistics. Check the hospital count first: quartiles built on a handful of hospitals shift sharply with each new entry.

Why do robotic surgery prices differ between hospitals in Korea?

Equipment costs, surgical volume and pricing structure drive the gap, while hospital type and region explain little of it. The 2026 study found no meaningful link between robotic surgery prices and hospital type (tertiary or general hospital), number of beds, or location in the Seoul capital region. That is unusual for a non-covered item. In our brain MRI cost analysis, hospital type was the main driver of the price gap.

The supply side explains the pattern. Surgical robots are concentrated in large hospitals, so every robotic price comes from a small group of big institutions. Within that group, each hospital tended to price all its robotic procedures consistently high or consistently low. Kyungbuk Maeil reported that the researchers trace the differences to three hospital-level factors, and two features of the disclosure widen them further:

• When the robot was bought and how often it runs. Hospitals recover part of a robot's cost through patient charges, so purchase timing and the number of operations sharing that cost shape the price.
• What the price includes. No standard package exists, and one hospital may include services that another bills separately.
• Undisclosed tiers. With 81.4% of entries posted as ranges, most hospitals use several price levels without saying which patients fall into which. The researchers propose disclosing the criteria for each tier.
• Inconsistent labels. Robotic breast surgery has no dedicated code, so hospitals label it in different ways, sometimes only as 'breast'. The researchers propose a dedicated code and a standard record of the robot system used.

The breast surgery case shows what the April split achieved: a dedicated code makes prices comparable, and its absence mostly does not. None of these factors measures quality. A higher posted price does not mean better outcomes, and a general hospital outside Seoul is not automatically cheaper. The study author added that posted prices are not amounts patients paid and should not be used to grade hospitals. Korea Non-covered Medical Price Statistics therefore compares groups and does not rank named hospitals.

How did non-covered prices and robotic surgery coverage change in 2026?

Robotic surgery has no like-for-like price trend yet: the April 2026 split broke the data series, and the 2027 disclosure will give the first year-on-year comparison by procedure. Until then, the wider 2026 release shows how the non-covered market around robotic surgery is moving.

Measure (593 items disclosed in both 2025 and 2026)	Items	Share
Average price rose (nominal)	436	73.5%
Average price fell (nominal)	146	24.6%
Average price unchanged	11	1.9%
Rose after adjusting for 3.2% inflation (June 2026)	145	24.5%
Fell after adjusting for inflation	448	75.5%
Gap between institutions widened	337	56.8%
Gap between institutions narrowed	242	40.8%

Unit: number of items. Source: MediPharm Health News report of the 2026 HIRA non-covered price disclosure.

Most non-covered prices rose in won but fell after inflation, so the typical item became slightly cheaper in real terms. The spread moved the other way. Gaps between cheap and expensive institutions widened for 337 of the 593 items, which makes comparing institutions more valuable each year. Robotic surgery, with gaps in the millions of won, is the clearest case.

Coverage policy could reshape robotic prices sooner than the data series does. Covering robotic prostatectomy is one of the government's health policy tasks, and the option under review is selective coverage (seonbyeol geubyeo), a middle tier between covered and non-covered. Under Article 41-4 of the National Health Insurance Act and its implementing rules, insurance pays part of a selectively covered service and the patient pays 50%, 80% or 90% of the fee. No copayment rate has been set for robotic prostatectomy, and no MOHW notice has been issued. A safety and effectiveness review, a cost-effectiveness analysis, fee setting, a budget estimate and a decision by the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee (Geonjeongsim) must come first.

Assuming the fee were set at 10 million won, the 2026 median lowest posted price for prostate cancer surgery, a patient would pay 5 million, 8 million or 9 million won at the three rates. The real fee comes out of the fee-setting step, so these figures show the size of the decision rather than a forecast.

How can you check a robotic surgery price in Korea before and after surgery?

Look up the procedure code on HIRA, get a written estimate for your own case, and keep the detailed bill after you pay. Six steps cover the whole process.

1. Look up the code. On the HIRA website, open Inquiry/Application (Johoe·Sincheong), then Non-covered Medical Fee Information (Bigeubyeo Jillyobi Jeongbo), or use the Health e-Eum app. Search for robot-assisted surgery, pick your procedure and note each hospital's lowest and highest price. The same page shows coverage criteria and health technology reassessment results, which review safety and effectiveness.
2. Ask which tier applies to your case, which robot system the hospital uses and what is billed separately.
3. Get a written estimate. Article 45 of the Medical Service Act requires institutions to inform patients of non-covered items and fees, so ask for that information on paper.
4. Check again before admission, since hospitals can change prices after the September disclosure.
5. Request the detailed statement of medical fees (jillyobi sebu sanjeong naeyeok) after paying. It lists covered and non-covered charges separately.
6. File a medical fee confirmation request (jillyobi hwagin yocheong) with HIRA under Article 48 of the National Health Insurance Act if a covered service appears to have been billed as non-covered. When the review finds an overcharge, the difference is refunded.

Foreign patients pay under the same structure, because National Health Insurance covers the robotic part of an operation for no one. Medical-tourism quotes often bundle surgery, hospital stay, hotel nights and airport transfers into one figure. Ask for a won quote for the surgery alone that names the procedure, then compare it with the HIRA lowest and highest prices for that code.

What do patients ask most about robotic surgery cost in Korea?

Does Korean National Health Insurance cover robotic surgery?

Not the robotic part. Robot-assisted surgery is non-covered in the 2026 disclosure, so patients pay each hospital's price. Selective coverage for robotic prostatectomy is under review, with no copayment rate set and no MOHW notice issued.

What do covered, non-covered and selectively covered mean?

Covered services have a government-set fee that National Health Insurance mostly pays. Non-covered services are priced by each hospital and paid in full by the patient. For selectively covered services, insurance pays part and the patient pays 50%, 80% or 90% under Article 41-4 of the National Health Insurance Act.

Is ~10 million won what I will actually pay?

Not necessarily. The ~7 million and ~10 million won figures are 2026 medians of the lowest posted prices. Because 81.4% of entries are ranges, many patients are billed above the lowest tier.

Why can one hospital charge 2.6 times more for the same operation?

The 2026 study ties the gap to when the hospital bought its robot, how many operations it performs and what its price includes. Hospital type and region explain little, and undisclosed price tiers widen the gap.

How should foreign patients compare and pay a robotic surgery quote?

Ask for a won quote for the surgery alone that names the procedure, without hotel or transfer costs. Compare it with the HIRA lowest and highest prices for that code before paying.

What should robotic surgery patients in Korea check, and what changes next?

Procedure-level prices make robotic surgery cost in Korea visible, but a posted price is still a range, not a bill. The 2026 medians of about 7 million won for cholecystectomy and about 10 million won for thyroid, rectal and prostate cancer surgery are lowest prices. Hospitals at the 90th percentile charge 1.7 to 2.6 times what those at the 10th charge, and hospital type and region explain little of that gap.

Before surgery, look up the specific code on HIRA, ask which tier applies and get the estimate in writing. After surgery, keep the detailed statement and file a fee confirmation request with HIRA if a covered service was billed as non-covered.

Four developments will change what those checks reveal:

• The 2027 disclosure, the first like-for-like comparison by procedure. The research team plans to repeat its analysis every year.
• A selective coverage notice for robotic prostatectomy, and whether its copayment rate is 50%, 80% or 90%.
• Disclosure of tier criteria, which would turn a posted range into an estimate a patient can use.
• A dedicated code for robotic breast surgery and a standard record of the robot system.

Korea Non-covered Medical Price Statistics will update these figures when HIRA releases the 2027 data.

What else should you read on Korea's non-covered prices?

• Brain MRI Cost in Korea 2026: HIRA Prices and the Headache Rule: how hospital type drives the price of a non-covered scan, and how to review a bill.
• Shockwave Therapy Cost in Korea 2026 After Manual Therapy Reform: the 2026 clinic price distribution for extracorporeal shock-wave therapy, the comparison point for robotic surgery's price spread.