Heart transplant patients in the United States typically spend months waiting for a donated organ. 

Meanwhile, not all organ transplants carry the same financial burden. 

The visualization above shows the average amount charged for select organ transplantations in the U.S. as of 2025.

 It is based on intel shared by healthcare consulting firm Milliman.

The data shows that the average hospital charge for a double lung transplant in the United States stands at $2.35 million, making it the most expensive transplant procedure on record. 

TL;DR

• Double-lung transplants have the highest average hospital charge in the U.S., at $2.35 million.
• Cornea transplants rank as the least expensive in the dataset at $57,000.
• The figures show that hospital charges rise sharply with the complexity of the transplant procedure.

NOTE: These figures represent average hospital charges, not necessarily the final amount paid by patients or insurers. Actual payments often vary due to insurance agreements, Medicare, Medicaid, and other reimbursement arrangements.

ALSO READ: Ranked: Countries Searching Most for Mental Health Topics

Double Lung Transplants Top the List

The data places double lung transplants firmly at the top of the rankings with an average hospital charge of $2,346,500.

That is roughly $428,000 more than the average charge for a heart transplant, which ranks second at $1,918,700.

A single lung transplant follows closely at $1,810,700, while intestine transplants average $1,729,500.

These four procedures form a distinct group, each carrying average hospital charges of well over $1.7 million.

Transplants Without a Million-dollar Price Tag

Below the top tier, average hospital charges begin to fall considerably.

Allogeneic bone marrow transplants, which use stem cells from a donor, average $1.26 million, while liver transplants come in at just over $1.02 million.

Further down the list are pancreas transplants at $609,400, autologous bone marrow transplants at $577,000, and kidney transplants at $446,800.

Although these procedures remain expensive by any measure, they illustrate that transplant charges are far from uniform.

ALSO READ: Mapped: Where People Take Weight-Loss Drugs The Most in America

Bone Marrow Procedures

One of the more interesting comparisons in the dataset comes from the two types of bone marrow transplant.

An allogeneic bone marrow transplant, which involves a donor, averages $1.26 million in hospital charges.

An autologous transplant, which uses the patient’s own stem cells, averages $577,000.

That means the donor-based procedure carries average hospital charges more than twice as high as the autologous alternative.

The difference highlights how additional medical complexity can significantly increase the resources needed during treatment.

So, What? 

Congress launched investigations into major medical centers (such as the University of Chicago Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center in NY) after reports revealed they were transplanting organs from American donors into wealthy foreign patients who traveled to the U.S. specifically to bypass the standard queue.

For patients, the figures in this data story illustrate why insurance coverage and access to specialized transplant centers remain critical to receiving life-saving care.

For healthcare providers, insurers and policymakers, the figures in this story offer a snapshot of where some of the greatest financial demands exist within transplant medicine.

ELI5

Some organ transplants are much more complicated than others, so hospitals charge very different amounts. A double lung transplant has the highest average hospital charge, while a cornea transplant has the lowest. The numbers show that the more complex the surgery and recovery, the higher the hospital charges tend to be.

Source: 

Milliman | Ways and Means Committee