DMV Area: Paying the price difference between a panniculectomy and a tummy tuck

Hi everyone!

I was under the impression that it would be easy for me to find a plastic surgeon who would allow me to simply pay the difference between what insurance reimburses for a panniculectomy and what the surgeon/facility charges for a full tummy tuck, but it has been a challenge so far. Either the surgeon doesn't accept insurance at all or they want me to pay for the TT in full and THEN file a claim with my insurance company so they can reimburse me for the cost of a panniculectomy. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money just laying around.

I live in Prince George's County, Maryland. Does anyone know of any surgeon/facility within the DMV (DC, MD, VA) area that actually accepts insurance for panniculectomies and will allow the patient to just pay the price difference without making them pay the full cost of the TT at any point in the process?

Have you contacted Dr. Michaels? I have no idea if he takes insurance, since mine covered nothing.

This might be a good use of Care Credit? You could put the amount that would be reimbursed on the Care Credit account because they have some low/no interest options if you pay the loan within a certain amount of time - so you could use Care Credit and then pay it off as soon as you were reimbursed and not have extra fees or interest.

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually have contacted the office of Dr. Joseph Michaels in Rockville, MD and he isn't in network with my insurance and I do not have out-of-network benefits so he simply isn't an option for me. I was a little sad when I found out because I'd been following him on Instagram for months and I love his work.

It's alright, I'll keep looking!

Yeah, he's amazing. He does participate with Care Credit, so if you went that route he might be an option.

Someone in my support group went to Dr. Vela -- https://www.belcarahealth.com/blog/welcome-dr-gary-vela/

I think she used insurance because she had some unrelated health issue that also required skin removal.

I wish I could be more helpful since you're in my neck of the woods!!

If you haven't done this already.. can you get a list of all of plastic surgeons who take your insurance, print it out, and just start calling all of them? I think that might be what I'd do in your situation. Then once I found the ones who would work with me, I'd research the hell out of them :D