Question:
Does anyone know if they can put you on a payment plan for self pay?

   — Tina L. (posted on April 9, 2003)

April 9, 2003
Sure they *can*. The billing offices can do anything they want to. Are they *willing* to? Highly unlikely, unless you've got fabulous credit. This surgery costs as much as a new car. But it's entirely subject to the discretion of the billing office that *you* are going through, so others may have been able to arrange it but you may not, or you may be able to where others haven't. I know, totally not helpful am I? :)
   — Maria N.

April 9, 2003
My experience is this. The hospital was willing to set up a payment plan IF you could come up with $10,000 down. Then the remainder above the 10K had to be paid within a 2 year time period. They estimated that THEIR costs could be as high as 17-18K. The doctor I found was more concerned for his patients than for his pocketbook. He was willing to take payments for his portion. I've heard it more often that surgeon will want a big chunk (like half) of their surgeons fee up front, if they're even willing to work with you at all. The surgeon I'm referring to was not listed as a "bariatric" surgeon but as a general surgeon even though he had done them for many, many years. Its just he does other surgeries as well. Still his fee was something like $5,000. Because of having to come up with so much up front for the hospital and then looking at years of payments in addition to that, I decided to research WLS outside of the US. (For what you'd need down for just the hospital you can have surgery and have it paid for in full - another option.)
   — Shelly S.

April 10, 2003
My hospital wants $11K upfront, then will give a 3% discount if the bill is paid off in full right away. I imagine that if it's not paid right away it's some minimum per month. I made a comment about the discount that my insurance company would get if they were paying for it (in hopes I could get the same!), and they just said, "We're so sorry you can't get that discount too." It sort of adds insult to injury - not only does my insurance refuse to pay, but I have to pay a lot more than they would, even though their pockets are WAY deeper!
   — sjwilde