Question:
Does any Doctor in Tennessee make payment arrangements for the surgery

I have a friend that would like to have the surgery but does not have insurance. She would like to find out about payment arrangements.    — Snoocher (posted on June 28, 2003)

June 28, 2003
i personally have never heard of it, but i would write a letter to each and every surgeon in the state. what is the worse they could say- no. i would try... and plead my case. some Dr's i firmly believe do what they do out of care for other humans. others i believe do it out of greed and money-maybe she will luck out and find a good one! one that cares and one that will work with her. maybe if she could get a loan, as a "down payment" and then, a payment plan? problem is, the hospital probably wont take a payment plan or all the other Dr's involved... like the anesthiesiologist, RN's, and who ever else they use. out of my total cost of surgery at $23,000 my surgeon only got $5,000 so all the other went to other costs. i hope your friend finds help somewhere...
   — heather S.

June 28, 2003
Using a general surgeon instead of a bariatric surgeon would increase your chances of finding a doctor more willing to work with you. But as the previous poster said, my hang up was the hospital. They require a significant portion down. When I was trying to find a way to have it done locally they required 10,000 down and the remainder of their bill to be paid off within 2 years. (and thats just for the hospital portion!) Thats why people shop around and are willing to travel to another state for a much better price than they can find locally. Some even go out of the country. You can get a DS in Spain (I believe it is?) for much, much less than here and you can get an RNY in Mexico also for much, much less - like less than just what the hospital in the US requires down for the entire operation out of the states.
   — Shelly S.

June 29, 2003
Self pay here in the states is very expensive!!!! I would not be having surgery if it was not for going to Mexico. I will be paying $6900.00 for my complete surgical expenses. This includes surgeon,hospital,anesthia, everything. The only thing I will pay is my travel expenses. The surgeons I looked into here in the US all charged $20,000.00 to $40,000.00 and I could not find one that would take payments!!!!! If you search the library for "self pay" you will find lots of options...from Spain,Brazil,Mexico....I am sure there are others...these are just the ones I looked in to. If you need any more info...please email me!!!!!!!!! Good luck on your search!! Oh if you check Latrisha Nickle's profile....she had found a surgeon here in the states that had a self pay price that was not too bad, I wanna say they were in Arkansas ( I may be wrong on the location)
   — jennap