HI GUYS..I HAVE RECENTLY JOINED UP WITH MEDIBANK PRIVATE SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING A LAP BAND..I HAVE CHOSEN FIRST CHOICE HOSPITAL LEVEL 1..MEDIBANK ASSURES ME THAT THEY WILL COVER THE COST OF THE ;LAPBAND.HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS LEVEL OF COVER?SOMEHOW IT DOESNT SEEM TO ME THAT THIS LEVEL WILL COVER EVERYTHING.IS THERE ANY HIDDEN EXTRAS IN THIS OP THAT FIRST CHOICE HOSPITAL COVER WILL NOT COVER? I JUST WANT TO BE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT I HAVE CHOSEN THE RIGHT COVER AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE THAT HAVE HAD THIS COVER..CHEERS!!:thumbup:

Hi there, if they say they will cover it then they pretty much will.

Welcome to the forum. Just wondering if you knew that typing in all caps is considered shouting at people?

A friend of mine in the U.S got refused coverage for her lap band as they told her it was a pre existing condition. She had seen a doctor prior to taking out her cover about getting her lap band..........I know we are different here, thank goodness:thumbup: But I didn'tthink that was fair. I mean every person who has a lap band has been overweight for a long time, so I guess we all could be classified as pre existing.

Anyway, I am with HBF, they covered me, I had a gap of about 2 grand all up.

Good luck.

You just need to make sure the policy covers 'elective surgery' which is pretty much all the time, the highest cover available.

If you are concerned about them not covering the surgery, ask them to put it in writing that it will be covered under that particular policy.

ok..thanks guys.i have got an email from them today confirming they will cover the lap band,i gave them the item number..its just the hidden extras i may not know about.somehow it just seems i should go the highest level of hospital cover but apparantly i dont have to, which i was finding hard to believe.anyways thanks for ur advice!!

I'm a member of a yahoo group for aussies and one person who posted there is in the same cover as you and she got hers paid out, so no worries, you'll be fine. I just went with hba because the surgeon I saw at the time said they'd never had any problems with them paying up at all.

Thats great news!!Thank u..

im with medibank private i have the highest cover with no excess but the lower one will give you just as much cover though check about the excess so you know how much it will be as the hosp will want it the day your admitted

think my out of pocket costs were $4,500 all up and that includes anaethetist

Leeanne

I think you need to get all the item numbers, and go to the health fund and make certain.

I rang my health fund and was told they would cover lap band. What they said was strictly true - my private hospital stay was covered 100% and I got a rebate on many of the item numbers. What I wasn't clear about was the costs of the surgery and all the added extras. In the end I spent about $7000 out of my pocket for everything start to finish. I then got 20% of that back on tax. It would have cost would have cost significantly more than that if my health fund did not cover lap band.

im expecting to be $1500-2000 out of pocket.$7000 seems to be so much,and if thats what im in for id rather just pay for the whole lap band op now instead of waiting another 10 months for my private cover to kick in.Im just wondering why are so many people on here out of pocket $4000++ when they have private health insurance?Why do some people pay about $2000 and others pay $7000 when they have private cover?i will email surgeon and ask for All the item numbers,he just gave me the one for the lap band..cheers guys for all ur advice!!:cool2:

im expecting to be $1500-2000 out of pocket.$7000 seems to be so much,and if thats what im in for id rather just pay for the whole lap band op now instead of waiting another 10 months for my private cover to kick in.Im just wondering why are so many people on here out of pocket $4000++ when they have private health insurance?Why do some people pay about $2000 and others pay $7000 when they have private cover?i will email surgeon and ask for All the item numbers,he just gave me the one for the lap band..cheers guys for all ur advice!!:tongue:

Hi gmp72,

The reason that people are charged different prices has to do with the surgeons fees, nurse fees, anaesthetists fees, physc, and dietitician fees only part of there fees are covered private health do not cover all the fees they only pay part of it, for instance my surgeon charged me $5000 for him to do the surgery and medibank private and medicare only paid a total of $930. The anaesthetist charged $1200 and all I got back was $800 no one pays for the nurse (except you of course). The dietitician first visit $98 out of pocket $60 2nd visit $40 out of pocket. Whereas my husband was charged $4500 surgeon that is what his out of pocket expense was with him no rebate from health fund or medicare (as that is what he charged over and above). Everything else was the same as mine except that when I go to see the surgeon again I don't have to pay for my fills whereas, John has to pay $70 as his surgeon does not bulk bill and a extra $10 for the disposal of the needle, he also has the choice of seeing the other doc who does bulkbill and pay nothing for her to do the fill but she still charges him $10 each time for the disposal of the needle. So always find out what the extra hidden costs are surgeons fee above the normal refund etc.

Hope this explains it all

Sam

dont be mislead thinking having private medical insurance that it covers everything it simply doesn't....

it will cover your hospital and theatre costs....as i said before unless you have the very top hosp cover you possibly will need to pay an excess for the night/nights in hospital

as for the actual costs of the lapband, surgeon, anaethetist etc it doesnt cover this and medicare only pays the scheduled fee which isnt very much at all....surgeons can and will charge what they choose too and they all vary private cover doesnt cover their gap in the fee

so perhaps seek out the costs from a few places before you decide who to go with

If your in West Aust there is a surgeon who doesnt charge a gap with one of the funds and his costs are very minimal but overall most of us have between $2 - 5,000 out of pocket expenses depended who you choose and which state your in etc

Leeanne

HI GUYS..I HAVE RECENTLY JOINED UP WITH MEDIBANK PRIVATE SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING A LAP BAND..I HAVE CHOSEN FIRST CHOICE HOSPITAL LEVEL 1..MEDIBANK ASSURES ME THAT THEY WILL COVER THE COST OF THE ;LAPBAND.HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS LEVEL OF COVER?SOMEHOW IT DOESNT SEEM TO ME THAT THIS LEVEL WILL COVER EVERYTHING.IS THERE ANY HIDDEN EXTRAS IN THIS OP THAT FIRST CHOICE HOSPITAL COVER WILL NOT COVER? I JUST WANT TO BE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT I HAVE CHOSEN THE RIGHT COVER AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM PEOPLE THAT HAVE HAD THIS COVER..CHEERS!!

I too have First Chioce cover, and rang them last week to see if i was covered with this level. Turns out I am fully covered except for my excess and the gap payment, so you will be fine, it's just a matter of finding a good doctor now that does not charge too much :biggrin:

thank u everyone for ur info..

Hi there, I was just reading your response about the fees....very interested to know which Surgeon in WA does not charge a gap? as I have an appointment with Dr. watson on the 17th Oct. If there is a way that I could possibly save a few extra dollars I would appreciated i greatly.....you can PM if you want with the information.

Thanks

I don't know if any Dr does it without a gap if you're a private patient. I paid $170 for my pre-op appt (got some back from Medicare), $1950 for out of pocket for Dr Watson to do my surgery, and about $136 in hospital fees (don't know what for though). I paid nothing for the anaethetist, he was completely covered by my Health Fund.

I now pay $150 per fill, and get about $100 of that back from Medicare.

So without the fills, I paid just over $2000 all up. Pretty good when I have mid-level cover with HBF.