for all you self pay'ers

For all of you that have had surgery and self paid, did any of you encounter  additional fee's or charges.  My surgery will be $27,000.  For the "average" patient.  I was told anything that comes up I would be charged more,    After the fact.  If Less, I would get a kick back 45-60 days later. I am going to the bank to do my wire transfer tomorrow, then I can get a date... Anyone that has self paid  let me know your experience,   Thanks! JoAnn

I was a self pay patient and the cost of my surgery was in the same ball park as yours.  I did get an additional bill for about 1200.00 several weeks after surgery.  I paid the bill and then received a check from the hospital for overpayment.  Mind you the overpayment was much less than the additional bill I received but it was unexpected. Good luck to you. Kim

I ended up not self-pay but almost 4 years ago when I was planning my surgery and there was the possibility of self-pay it was in the $25-30,000 range. Best wishes as your WLS journey continues. Hugs, Mo

I was self-pay and it was quoted at $17,500. I got back $2000.00 from the hospital and then a couple bills straggled in the next  couple months of around $600 total.  My insurance picked up most of the pre-op stuff. Good luck. Wanda

Hi JoAnn, I can relate well to your concerns. On top of all the worries we each must endure, here we have the very people we trust telling us worst case scenarios that scare us even more. I suppose its best to be prepared, but often far from accurate information. In my case, once the Dr. learned I was a self pay, he reduced some of the necessary pre-op requirements he said weren't imperative. We also talked at length about my current health and I was able to pass on the sleep study and stress tests.  Now as for the actual surgery, I was on the table longer than they expected. The exit from my pouch had to be redone. The extra minutes were billed to me about a month later as were the additional other surgical costs for a total of nearly $2000.00. I am making monthly payments and the hospital was helpful in setting up a plan. This brought my total to over $26,000.00. To the uninformed, this probably sounds like a huge figure, but consider this. I would spend between $175.00-$200.00 a week out for food. Now its probably less than $50.00. A Cup-O-Noodles can last 3 meals with some vegetables. You will quickly recoup the costs of the surgery. You'll be a cheap date. I hope this helps, and good luck. Mark 

I was a self pay and had a good experience... Well, as much as you can as a self-pay.  My surgeon has a "package" deal based on the type of surgery and hospital you go to.  It is one price, but he makes you divide the payments between him, the hospital and the anesthesiologist.  I paid a little over $21K between the three.   Shortly after the surgery, I wrote an email to the billing department of Inova Fairfax and requested a receipt for tax purposes.  They literally sent me a credit card receipt, almost as if I had gone to Target and purchaced something.  I contacted them again and said that if I was an insurance company they would have sent an itemized list of all my chages so why treat me any differently?  A couple days later, I received an itemized list and it showed that THEY OWED ME $1,400.  Because it was a package deal, I didn't think I'd see the money but several days after that a check showed up in my mail box.  Total price for my surgery was approx. $20K. I hope this helps, --Eric

My surgery was 9/17/03 & I paid $17, 224.07 out of pocket     origianlly was $18,000 but hospital sent me a refund woohoo It was the best money I ever spent....& the way I see it is that I easily ate atleast that mu*****upcakes & snacks over the years so it all evened out :-) RNY 9/17/03 DR. ROE 360/196/forever aiming at 180