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Hi Everyone,
I am new to this site and have had a look to see if there are any insurance threads... couldn't find any so I am sorry if they are somewhere and I am putting up a repeat thread please let me know if I am.
I have a gastric band and I am looking to go to a sleeve, however I let my insurance go a few years back.
Can you please tell me who your insurance is with and which cover is the appropriate one?
Thankyou :)
Doreen
While I was in hospital after my op I met a woman who was with Navy health Insurance. She said that she only had to pay $500 excess. Worth wile looking into. I had never heard of them but sounds like a good deal to me.
All insurances are different. I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield but my school district added "No bariatrics" to our coverage. So it's basically whatever your employer wants to pay for. Not only would mine not cover bariatric surgery, they would not cover any complication related to bariatric surgery, so if for some reason I ended up back in the hospital, I would have had to pay 100%.
Hello Doreen, I Have Bupa and I have to pay out of pocket close to 7000. I have many friends that had the sleeve done and also paid over $5000. I dont know of any insurance that pays everything. Do some research and hopefully you can find something thats right for you. Dont forget most insurances give you a year waiting period before they cover anything. Good luck.
Hi Shannon,
I've been trying to locate folks in Australia who are either considering or are getting some form of bariatric surgery to asssit them in their weight loss journey. After moving to regional Victoria and having been overweight most of my adult life I thought I really should consider some type of medical intervention. So I have been referred to a local general surgeon who has had many successes via either the band but mainly from the sleeve. After speaking with him and reading heaps of material I decided to just do it. But when I contact my private health insurer I found I would be out of pocket in excess of $7,000.00! I was really shocked I've got top hospital cover with HIF and basically the only thing they will pay for is the room in hospital!
I am so out of pocket it isn't funny! I'm so disappointed! I don't have that kind of money sitting in my bank. I'm recently retired due to a workplace injury so my super has been converted to a pension. This obviously is a huge problem for anyone with PHI who is considering surgery to really change their life and who is on top cover only to find they are really not covered at all!
Hi Doreen,
I don't think there are any Private Health Insurancers who actually cover you for the whole procedure whether it be the band or sleeve. I recently decided that I had to seriously consider some type of surgical intervention so I have been referred to a local general surgeon who would be able to help me. I've seen him and he has had numerous success stories and believed I'd be an ideal candidate. So after doing heaps of reading and deciding to just do it, I contacted my PHI only to find out that even though I've been with them for years and having top cover I would be out of pocket over $7,000! I was shocked, angry and so disappointed, there is no way I can cover this amount myself. I thought that paying for top cover which included this type of surgery I might be out of pocket for 1-2 thousand but not in excess of 7! I'm retired from work due to a workplace injury and my super has been converted into a pension so now I have to go on the public waiting list which will take years!