Budgeting a medical trip to Korea
What to add up beyond the procedure price: imaging, consultations, room charges, paperwork, and the costs that only appear once you are here.
8 min read
The procedure price is the number people plan around, and it is almost never the number they end up paying. Not because anyone is hiding anything — because a treatment is a sequence of billable things, and the disclosed price covers one of them.
This is what to add up before you book a flight.
1. The procedure itself
Start here, because it is the only figure with a published benchmark. Find your treatment on this site, note the median for the region you are going to, and treat that as your baseline rather than the cheapest hospital in the country.
2. Diagnostics before the treatment
Almost nothing is done without imaging first. A surgeon will want their own scans even if you bring some, and a dentist will want their own X-rays.
| Procedure | Median | Range | Hospitals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain MRI | ₩450,000 $320 | ₩175,565 – ₩1,045,000 | 874 |
| Lumbar spine MRI | ₩450,000 $320 | ₩120,000 – ₩1,037,370 | 1016 |
| Knee MRI | ₩450,000 $320 | ₩120,000 – ₩960,000 | 1021 |
| Thyroid ultrasound | ₩80,000 $58 | ₩10,000 – ₩255,000 | 1259 |
| Soft tissue ultrasound | ₩70,000 $50 | ₩10,000 – ₩250,000 | 1114 |
Budget for at least one scan. If you are being assessed rather than treated for a known problem, budget for several.
3. Consultations
Consultation fees are largely insurance-covered for residents, which means they are not part of the non-covered disclosure and this site cannot price them. They are not usually large, but there will be more than one — an initial consultation, often a second with the specialist who will treat you, and a follow-up.
4. The stay, if you are admitted
Room charges are per night and are one of the few costs you have real control over.
| Procedure | Median | Range | Hospitals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private room, single occupancyper night | ₩150,000 $110 | ₩5,000 – ₩550,000 | 2365 |
| Private room, double occupancyper night | ₩40,000 $29 | ₩3,000 – ₩400,000 | 670 |
A shared ward is covered differently and is far cheaper. See the room cost guide for when the upgrade is genuinely optional and when it is not.
5. Paperwork you will need at home
Small amounts, easy to forget, and painful to obtain once you have left the country.
| Procedure | Median | Range | Hospitals |
|---|---|---|---|
| English-language medical certificate | ₩20,000 $14 | ₩5,000 – ₩50,000 | 2049 |
| Copy of medical records (1 to 5 pages) | ₩1,000 $1 | ₩100 – ₩5,000 | 3782 |
| Imaging records on CD | ₩10,000 $7 | ₩1,000 – ₩20,000 | 2958 |
6. Everything that is not medical
This site prices treatment, not travel, but the non-medical side is frequently the larger half of a medical trip and it is worth stating plainly:
- Flights and accommodation, for longer than you think. Recovery time is not optional, and some treatments require a follow-up visit days later.
- An interpreter, unless you are being treated somewhere with an international department. Larger hospitals usually have one; smaller ones often do not.
- A companion’s costs, if someone is travelling with you — which for anything requiring sedation or general anaesthesia is sensible.
- Travel insurance that covers you for planned treatment rather than emergencies only. Most standard policies exclude elective procedures abroad entirely.
A worked example
Someone travelling for a single dental implant, using national medians:
| Procedure | Median | Range | Hospitals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dental implant, zirconia crownper tooth | ₩1,200,000 $860 | ₩300,000 – ₩3,045,950 | 406 |
| Brain MRI | ₩450,000 $320 | ₩175,565 – ₩1,045,000 | 874 |
| English-language medical certificate | ₩20,000 $14 | ₩5,000 – ₩50,000 | 2049 |
The point of the exercise is not the total. It is that the implant figure alone understates the trip, and that the gap is predictable rather than mysterious.
The procedures index has every treatment this site prices, and each page shows the regional breakdown you should be budgeting against.
Figures on this page are read from the published disclosure data at build time, so they match the price pages exactly. This is general information about published prices, not medical advice, and it does not recommend any hospital. Confirm any figure with the hospital before treatment.