Weight Loss Surgery Health Center
Financing Weight Loss Surgery
Losing weight isn't easy -- and for many severely overweight people, exercise and diet simply aren't effective enough to shed significant weight. When all else has failed, many people start thinking about weight loss surgery, also called bariatric surgery.
You likely have questions about financing weight loss surgery -- the costs involved, what is covered by insurance, and how to convince your insurance to cover weight loss surgery.
Quality of Life After Successful Weight Loss Surgery
Are you on the fence about weight loss surgery? There are good reasons to think long and hard about it -- as well as reasons to do it. That’s because, as the pounds melt away, people feel the difference immediately -- and that helps them embrace a new mind-set, says Anita Courcoulas, MD, MPH, chief of minimally invasive bariatric surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "They learn what it feels like to feel better and have improved health," she tells WebMD. "The surgery...
Read the Quality of Life After Successful Weight Loss Surgery article > >
The good news: Most insurance companies recognize that overweight and obese patients have an increased risk of serious health conditions like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea.
In fact, there is plenty of evidence that bariatric surgery can improve or resolve up to 30 obesity-related conditions, according to the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).
If you have health insurance, it’s important to read your policy carefully and work closely with your insurer and your doctor to ensure that most of the costs of weight loss surgery are covered.
If you don’t have health insurance, you’ll likely have to pay the entire bill yourself. Some weight loss surgery centers, however, can help you get financing, a loan that you can repay over a number of years.
The Costs of Weight Loss Surgery
Weight loss surgery is expensive: The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases reports that the typical costs can run from $20,000 to $35,000.
The costs of weight loss surgery depend on several factors:
- The type of surgery you're having
- Your surgeon's fee
- The hospital you choose
Weight loss surgery can be divided into two fundamental types: those that create smaller stomach size -- restricting calorie intake -- and those that cause malabsorption of food. There are a few basic types of bariatric surgery: gastric bypass, adjustable gastric banding, vertical gastric banding (also called stomach stapling), sleeve gastrectomy, and biliopancreatic diversion. Each has a different fee.
Your surgeon's fee will vary based on where you live, your surgeon's expertise, and the complexity of the surgery.
Other costs may include:
- Anesthesiologist's fee
- Surgical assistant's fee
- Operating room fees
- Hospital room fees
- Lab and other diagnostic fees
- Device fees
- Consultant fees (if necessary)
- Follow-up procedures (for the gastric band)
Getting Your Insurance to Pay for Weight Loss Surgery
Most insurance companies require that you provide proof that the procedure is a medical necessity. Your surgeon can help provide your medical history and documentation of your obesity-related health problems.
In the last few years, insurance companies have also begun requiring patients to participate in a six-month Physician Supervised Diet Program before they will grant approval. (Medicare does not require this six-month program, but Medicare patients are often encouraged to participate anyway.)
Even if you have dieted for 10 years with Weight Watchers or under a doctor's supervision in another weight loss program, you must complete a Physician Supervised Diet Program. The insurance companies aren’t trying to find out if you can lose weight through dieting. They want you to demonstrate over the six months prior to surgery that you can commit to lifestyle changes you’ll need to make forever after your weight loss surgery.
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