Paying for Bariatric Surgery Through Cost Savings

One of the most difficult items to quantify when speaking to a bariatric patient is exactly how much they will save by having their weight loss surgery, losing the weight, and living a healthier, longer life. Indeed, the costs of obesity are not just on your joints, your mental health, or your appearance, rather there are also tangible, financial costs associated with excess weight.

In 2010, a George Washington University research report¹ tried to quantify these and came up with staggering results. First, the cost of obesity to women is significantly higher than that of men. For many patients, the additional cost of drugs to control obesity related diseases, healthcare costs to manage these diseases, additional food and other tangible items were estimated to tally to almost $5,000 a year for women and over $2,500 per year for men. Further, time off work, lost productivity and loss of enjoyment are unquantifiable but can add several thousand dollars over the course of a year for a grand total of over $8,000 for women and $6500+ for men.

With the cost of obesity front of mind, it is important for patients to know and understand that bariatric surgery is available and may be more within reach than they expect. If paying with the help of insurance, patients will be responsible for their deductible, co-pays, and coinsurance if they are covered. If patients are paying by cash, they can take advantage of our low cash pay option – one of the least costly throughout the nation.

No matter what method of payment, if these statistics are to be believed, the payoff of eliminating many of the diseases associated with more babysitting and losing weight can be significant.

Reference:

¹https://publichealth.gwu.edu/departments/healthpolicy/DHP_Publications/pub_uploads/dhpPublication_35308C47-5056-9D20-3DB157B39AC53093.pdf