Hi all,
I'm asking if anyone has successfully paid for surgery without insurance.
I'm having problems finding a surgeon that will. Been to 3 consults, the surgeon says yes, but the admin side say no, or triple the price of the surgeons quote.
Maybe I should go on a wait list for public?
you can pay advance always before go for surgery. Money talk, if you already paid majority of cost no place in earth they will not do your surgery.
I had a 1hr surgery with 1 night stay a few years ago. My private insurer paid the hospital directly $7000. This was seperate to the surgeon and other fees.
Also if there's any complication the hospital bill will get very big very fast.
Singapore or Thailand?
The surgeons quotation would only include his fees. Onto that you need to add the hospital fees for the operating theatre, nurses, etc plus all meds and consumables used and the anaesthetist would have his own fees on top of that.
Your profile just says South Australia, so I assume Adelaide…
That said, see if Modbury does your procedure.
Look at:
https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+conten…
Can I still be a private patient if I don’t have private health insurance?
Yes, if you do not have private health insurance, you can still elect to be a private patient. As a self-funded patient you will be responsible for meeting any costs incurred during your hospital stay that are not covered by Medicare.
How do you elect to be a private patient?
Hospital staff are available to answer any questions you may have. If you would like to be admitted as a private patient please let our staff know.
Then skip over to:
https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/d16a2e004b0a0…
One option you can apply to get part of superannuation to fund the surgery
Whats the procedure - is public an option?
It's a complete tear of the ATFL, or ligament tear in foot.
Public is an option, but there are long wait times, as i see it now, i will probably need the other ankle done too.
You can't be in a public hospital under private without insurance, you would be just a public patient.
I'm trying to weigh up options of:
Pay for private wait 12 months, then get both done with 6 months of each.
Pay for surgery and be out of pocket for both.
Wait for public system.
Have had a day surgery before. I had to settle the surgeon's fee myself before claiming (part of) it back from Medicare & insurance company afterwards. The surgeon didn't ask/ care whether I'd insurance or not.
As to your options - it all depends on whether you can live with the discomfort/ inconvenience for that long.
If you can wait, I'd probably suggest that you go with option 1 & 3 at the same time as you'd never know when you often don't know when you're at the front of the public hospital waiting list until you're there.
Financially, you should also consider how much you'll have to pay out of pocket even with private hospital cover.
getting PHI now and waiting 12 months is something worthy of considering. however it's important to consider any risk involved in waiting for 12 months in terms of long term permanent damage/ making sugary more complex etc
it's also important to do the math. you need itemised numbers for the surgery to work out a) your bill as a full fee paying patient and b) your out of pocket expenses as a private insured patient.
private insurance covers the operating theatre, room stay and only a relatively small portion of your surgeon/anesthesiologist fees.
only once you know your out of pocket expense with private health insurance, comparative to your full fee expenses,and any impact on your surgery/recovery can you truly evaluate whether waiting 1 year is worth it.
Fees for private uninsured from 3 quotes, ranges from $5500 to $7500 all inclusive, the Medicare Benefots Scheme will rebate approximately $2000 back.
Private Health would be $1600 plus excess of $250.
Public Health is free but waiting up to 2 years for this surgery.
It isn't a situation where I need it, but it will mean that reinjury is likely, which in turn impacts upon working and daily life.
The damage to the ligaments has been, conservative treatment has failed. I can't do any more damage apart from severing them completely
I'm considering the private health route and getting any other d
ay surgery items done under it to make use of the excess payment.
But what other dau surgery is there?.
You need to work out how much you'd get back from the PHI (as it probably doesn't cover everything) to work out the true cost differential. Then it's up to you to work out whether that amount of, presumably, saving justify waiting a year.
You can't just have a random surgery without the medical need. No surgeon will perform unnecessary procedures on you (except for cosmetic procedures) and no PHI will cover them.
I book mine in on Monday.
but two places i rang said the surgeon doesn't do self insured.
The Hospital wants $14k for the operating theatre for 2 hours. The surgeon and his offsider, anaesthetist and any additional meds etc are all extra.
PS: This is for day surgery.