How did/do you pay your surgeon? Before or After insurance portion?

Heather H.
on 4/4/09 9:34 am - Northern, CA
Some have had the panni approval from insurance, as do I. Did or does your surgeon require you to pay the entire amount of surgery if you have other procedures like the lower body lift etc.. and then you submit for payment from insurance to you or to your doctor or do you just pay the difference up front to the surgeon for the extra procedures not covered?
What did you have to pay out of your pocket before you walked into surgery?
I was self pay for my BA so it didn't apply..Thanks for your help.

Before 09/2005 BMI:57.5
After   09/2007  BMI.28.9
Now    09/2012 BMI 46.4

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gypsywoman6789
on 4/4/09 12:09 pm - Hudson, NH
I've had consults wtih 3 PS and the most recent one (just yesterday) we discussed doing an LBL and I already have insurance approval for the panni.

He wanted me to pay up front for the entire procedure and then take back whatever insurance reimbursed but his office couldn't tell me what that amount would be so basically he wanted me to shell out 13k and just get back whatever insurance reimburses which would be fine if  Iknew what that amount would be - is it going to be 2k or 10k, he was sneaky because he built in his full fee by having me do the panni along with a cosmetic procedure.  This way he ends up with more money than what the insurance co would have paid for the panni alone.  That really pissed me off so I am going with my original surgeon who is at the hospital where I had my GB done.

So just be careful when having part of it insurance paid and part self pay that you don't get screwed on the fees.

tomscandy
on 4/4/09 12:38 pm
Hello, 
     They figured what my cost would be after ins. paid, and I had to pay that part, even before the classes, psy. consult, or surgery...I think it was about 1200.oo or close to that, which wasnt easy for me to come up with...But I'm glad I did...
Redhaired
on 4/4/09 3:35 pm - Mouseville, FL
You had to attend classes and have a psych consult for plastic surgery?

  

 

 

cleos_mom
on 4/4/09 8:31 pm - phila., PA
I would say most PS make you pay up front at your pre-op appt about a week before you surgery
Robert Oliver
on 4/5/09 5:59 am - Birmingham, AL
If you're a participant in the patients insurance plan and you've gotten preapproval for some procedure (usually only an abdominal panniculectomy or breast reduction), we would typically only balance bill before surgery what we would expect to be the difference in cost for more extensive procedures (like doing a body lift or full abdominoplasty). For Medicare, we (and the hospitals) usually require prepayment as they will not preauthorize any surgery and they're notoriously finnicky about not paying procedures in weight loss patients.


For plastic  surgeons who do not accept insurance (which is rare here in Alabama as BCBS has 90% market share, but common in some areas), they would usually have you prepay up front and have you submit claims yourself to be directly reimbursed whatever your insurer would pay.
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blogging on all things plastic surgery  at Plastic Surgery 101
Heather H.
on 4/5/09 6:26 am - Northern, CA
Thank you for that information, my insurance BCBS has approved a abdominoplasty. At least that is the exact wording on the approval letter, and the code used. I just wanted a heads up as to what the norm is so that I obviously am not paying more for the additional procedures than is the norm, and possibly don't have to pay the entire amount and wait for insurance like PS's have to... I would like a lower body lift.. and i love my surgeon that did my BA but he doesn't specialize in the lower body lift so I am doing more research in the event I am looking for another PS for that procedure. Thanks again

~H

Before 09/2005 BMI:57.5
After   09/2007  BMI.28.9
Now    09/2012 BMI 46.4

*My profile is public*

    
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