Has anyone else gone the self pay route?? I’m looking into it and was just curious what was included in your “package price” .

I live in Tampa Florida. My insurance doesn't cover anything obesity related so I had to pay out of pocket. Luckily I was able to save and scrimp for it. I paid for all my pre op appointments, bloodwork, endoscopy, surgeon fee, anesthesia fee and hospital fee. It ended up costing $25,000 total. A large portion was the hospital fee for $17,000. They offered payment plans and medical credit too so there are a lot of options if you don't want to pay up front.

I realize it was a sh*t ton of money but it's my life and happiness on the line so I saw it as worth it.

I have no doubt there are cheaper self pay options available in and out of the country fyi

I just went with this program because it was highly rated in many different aspects in my state.

Best of luck!

Another thing, my program since I did self pay all post op appointments are free for up to 90 days.

I was self-pay at Cleveland Clinic. Package price (sounds the same as fourmonthspreop) was $26,000 ?

8 hours ago, RaisnHL said:

Has anyone else gone the self pay route?? I’m looking into it and was just curious what was included in your “package price” .

I'm self-pay. My package price basically includes everything from pre-op appointments with medical doctor, dietitian, surgeon, nurses - surgery and recovery - 2 years of follow-up including bloodwork.

If you're paying yourself anyway, you have options beyond just sleeve and RNY: I have to throw in a recommendation for the mini gastric bypass. (Long-time readers are sick of hearing me tout its advantages, but hey ).

I did self pay in the Washington, DC area. I got a sleeve. I consulted with 3 places. I wound up going with a good program that was $19k (give or take) for the whole package, but it varied from hospital to hospital. If I had gone with the "big name" hospital in DC, I would have paid at least $26k for the same procedure (roughly, their communication sucked and I suspect my quoted number wasn't very accurate. I don't recall what the 3rd price option was. Price wasn't my driving factor - I liked the practice I went to best after the consults - but it was an added bonus. I don't remember what the bypass prices were.

Anyway, the amount covered most things except additional pre-op testing like the endoscopy, chest x-ray, etc. I'd be careful about pre-op bloodwork. I wound up having to pay more than I should have if I had gone to LabCorp or Quest Diagnostics myself with the lab orders instead of getting them done at the hospital where my surgeon is based. The agreement included the surgeon fees, hospital stay for a routine procedure (up to two nights), anesthesia, all the random testing they do as a patient (i.e., bloodwork and such while admitted), food (haha more like broth and water), and follow up appts for a certain timeframe (I think a year, maybe 2?) It was all laid out in my self pay agreement.

Honestly, it is the best $19k I have ever spent.

I paid £11,000 plus about £500 consultant and psych fees pre op. It includes all costs and 2 years follow up with the dieticians. Bargain

I am doing Self pay... Here is everything that is a part of my package for the sleeve. Out of the 3 main hospitals in my area this was the most expensive. Cheapest i found was around the $15K mark but the hospital was a for profit hospital which i am not a fan of. I was able to get insurance to pay some things like blood work, Xray, EKG, Psychological exam.

Edited March 3, 20224 yr by liveaboard15

38 minutes ago, liveaboard15 said:

I am doing Self pay... Here is everything that is a part of my package for the sleeve. Out of the 3 main hospitals in my area this was the most expensive. Cheapest i found was around the $15K mark but the hospital was a for profit hospital which i am not a fan of. I was able to get insurance to pay some things like blood work, Xray, EKG, Psychological exam.

Dang. World-class private hospital here in N Europe, self-pay, nothing covered by public or private insurance - 8,500 for a more complicated procedure than sleeve. Your doctors must be Ferrari'ing around over there.

Just now, MiniGastricBypassDude said:

Dang. World-class private hospital here in N Europe, self-pay, nothing covered by public or private insurance - 8,500 for a more complicated procedure than sleeve. Your doctors must be Ferrari'ing around over there.

LOL Yea cheapest was $15,500, One reason i chose this hospital is because they do offer a type of insurance that covers any complication that may come up during surgery because my insurance will not cover anything involving bariatric surgery or complication. But yea USA hospitals are very expensive compared to the rest of the world and yes most doctors do drive exotic cars. One doctor near where i live use to drive a McLaren. tho a few years ago that doctor was having his car transported by a semi truck and it got stuck on railroad tracks and got hit lol.

15 hours ago, RaisnHL said:

Has anyone else gone the self pay route?? I’m looking into it and was just curious what was included in your “package price” .

I had insurance pay for some of the pre/post op testing/therapy. However, I'm a self pay for the procedure. $9800. I think a complete self pay including testing and such was 16500 . I'm flying to Nevada, the hotel stay is included in the price as well as transportation to/from airport/clinic/surgical center.

I did self pay in PA through my local hospital group. My insurance covered much of my preop appointments and testing but the surgery itself was an exclusion by my employer. I ended up paying somewhere around 15k total and the bulk of that was the surgery itself and hospital stay. Those were discounted through the hospital for being self pay. I would definitely contact your billing department and inquire about self pay discounts.

Thanks for the help. I will be self pay in Virginia. The clinic I’m working with seems to offer a lot for the price, most importantly it includes life long support with their dietitian team which is HUGE for me.

I’m signed up for gastric bypass in Tijuana and it’s $5800 for self pay plus $400 flight.

It starts around $15k where I live in the US and insurance won’t cover it so to Mexico I go…

I am 13 days post op - I did self pay and was a gastric bypass revision. 15k here with an excellent surgeon (worked with him at hospital). So happy with how quickly things went this time.

I was self pay. My surgery (Loop DS) was in July 2020 in St. Louis. I paid 21,000, which included all the pre and post op testing, surgery, 3 day hospital stay, and 1 year of follow up. I did end up staying in the hospital 4 days, but my surgeon was able to get the hospital not to charge me for that.
I still follow up with my surgeon every 6 months, and now we have insurance that covers wls, so those visits are covered.
It makes me mad that after never once having insurance thaglt covered wls, practically the second I paid for it myself, we got insurance that covered it. However, I have no regrets and would GLADLY pay thr 21,000 again right now if I had to!