How did you pay for your banding?

goinggoinggone · September 29, 2005

I got a cash advance on a credit card with low interest. It wasn't that using the credit card was so smart, but the payment is about $100. a month, unless we pay more. I plan to save that much at least in groceries. But my husband felt that if I went to the hospital with health problems it would cost us more (uninsured) for a day at a US hospital than the $8,000. for Dr. Joya. I could have waited a year to save, but I had this feeling it needed to be done NOW!

Road Queen · September 30, 2005

Oops, I forgot - mine cost $12,500.

alatina · September 30, 2005

took it out of savings.

flower · September 30, 2005

My insuranance paid for it and for port revision had to pay co-pays and 350 dollars to be in the weight loss program

Marimaru · September 30, 2005

My mom wrote a check. I told her I'd found out about the band surgery and was telling her about it (I didn't even mention that I wanted to do it) and she says "You should get that done, I'll pay for it". I started sobbing, lol. I was in debt at the time and was working on getting that paid off (2 months debt free now, WOOHOO!), and there was no silver lining in the near future telling me that I'd have a way to pay for it, and she just says she'll do it. All I can say is that I hope when I'm her age I'm in a position like her so that I can help her or my own kids in similar ways (though I hope I never have to buy my kid a band, you know?).

princess_n_thep · October 2, 2005

Took out a personal loan for 5k and paid 5k from my savings.

October 3, 2005

Watch your interest rates! I saw one company charging 15% interest for a medical loan. If you have to do that, well, then you have to...but there are other options you should explore first.

Remember, you don't have to take all the money from the same place -- you can do 1/2 from 1 place and 1/2 from another or even from 3 or 4 different places.

Make sure home equity isn't an option -- if your mortgage amount isn't the same as the value of the house, you might have some equity. You can do a line of credit or a second mortgage. These can be good options because interest rates (I think) are around 6% and the interest on these would be tax deductible.

Other options: I took a loan from my 401(k). You can take out 1/2 with no questions asked. You do pay interest, mine was 6%, but when you pay the interest back, you pay it to yourself--not to someone else. I have 5 years to pay that back.

I put some of it on credit cards. On an existing card I had, I had an offer for 1.9% interest for 6 months. So I charged on there what I knew I could pay off in 6 months (a good chunk actually cause that's where my tax return went to) before the interest rate went up to 20-some %.

Tax return -- are you getting one?

If you're close to open enrollment, you can enroll for a medical reimbursement account. I don't know how much you can have taken out of your check, but it's a nice option to do because you can take it all out before you've paid into it. Example: let's say you want $200 a month to go into the account--that adds up to $2400 a year. Once the account is started, you can take that whole $2400 out right away and pay the surgeon...then each month, you put your $200 into it -- it's like pre-paying the surgeon with money in the account BEFORE you put the money in the account.

Personal loan. You might qualify for a personal loan from the bank....doesn't have to be for any particular reason...just go to the bank and see if you qualify for a personal loan and see what the interest rate is.

Good Luck!

Barb · October 3, 2005

I saved every penny I could for three months. I also sold some stock from my e-trade account. I put my airline tickets on my credit card which gave me about 45 days before I had to pay that off. It was worth every cent.

Kathy473 · October 3, 2005

I paid cash for mine. My insurance doesn't cover this surgery, even if it is medically necessary. So I had a loan that I had been paying at the bank and I had it rolled over again and added the $15,000.00 to and it only made my monthly payment go up $4.00...so I couldn't beat that! I should have asked for more money and saved the rest for a new wardrobe!!!! Darn!