cost of surgery in sydney

jacquitiger · March 4, 2009

hi everyone

does anyone want share there stories on the cost of their surgery. im looking to have the lap band done and justed wanted to know what is the average price . so far from what i have read its pretty much all over the place. ive been quoted as a private health patient its 6000.00 with a 1 year wait or 9000.00 straight away in a public hosp. this is at sios in ashfield.

tomjerry · March 4, 2009

Hi...I went to SIOS in Ashfield and that is the price they told me as well..I am booked in for Westmead Private and it will cost me $2.5k plus cost of top of that for Dietician, 2 visits to the surgeon but this can be claimed through medicare. I will know the exact price next week when I go back and will finalise the details and will let you know. Baulkham Hills private hospital is $4,500 so both alot cheaper than Ashfield....Dont know why you have to wait 1 year for Ashfield they were going to book me in 1 month after I saw them which was early Feb this year....Happy to provide more details if you want.. :blush: :thumbup::scared2:

Jachut · March 4, 2009

whoa that's expensive!

More common in australia is between 3,000 and 4,000 as a private patient with minimal wait. You just have to fit onto the surgeon's list, which might be a month or so, but 1 year? I'd go see another surgeon.

That fee generally means that all your aftercare (and any revision surgery) will be totally free to you as it will be bulk billed.

shaggs · March 4, 2009

I went through SIOS as a fully covered private patient in a private hospital and I only had to wait 2.5 weeks from first appointment to op. It cost me $7000 up front. $5500 was for SIOS which I get almost $1000 back from fund and medicare. $1000 to the anethetist and get $300 back and $450 in fees before the op (surgeon $180, psychologist $150 and dietician $120) I got $320 back from all of them on very good private cover. so thats a net amount of about $5380 and that covers all of my fills, and further ops if anything else needs to be done or replaced or repaired plus dietician, pyschologist and all follow up situations for the entire life of the band and or me. Plus, our medicare safety net situation is now looking good and we can claim the op back at tax time but I dont know how that will pan out yet. Because the dietician is covered in my health fund everytime I see her now I get a receipt and can claim her back also which will be about another $480 back over time. I know that NSW is higher than Melbourne and QLD adelaide etc because of different hospital situations etc. I know a self pay customer through SIOS at a public hospital was $9000 or $15000 through a private hospital with no difference in wait. Fully funded on Medicare is virtually impossible with a long wait on pre op diet (which is horrendous) for the entire wait which is known to be up to 5 years by which time you've lost all the weight! Other Doctors in NSW charge pretty standard $4500 plus anethetist which is variable but that does not cover any follow up appointment or situations. I think I got a pretty good deal and.... IT WAS WORTH EVERY CENT!!!! AND MORE!!!!