Medical professionals have been opting to use stents over bypass surgery for a while. Not only because there are fewer risks to the patients, but because the costs (before insurance) are dramatically different. Should you not have insurance, you can expect the insertion of a stent to run you about $ 41K, but bypass surgery can run about $ 170K. Now, these are not your out-of-pocket costs, because there are negotiated rates for those covered by insurance, but you can bet that it still costs you more for bypass surgery, even with insurance.