Financing Your Cosmetic Surgery
That one part of your body has bugged you for years. You are not vain, but it really is just too much. After a lot of thought and discussion with close friends, you have decided to have the problem dealt with via plastic surgery. Now you just have to pay for it.
Your first thought is probably to submit the fees to your health insurance company. Bad move. Plastic surgery is generally considered an elective surgery. Health insurance does not cover such medical procedures, so your requested payment will be rejected.
The surgeon you are going with will give you an estimate of his fees. These fees can fall anywhere in a wide range. The type of procedure will set the fee as well as where it is being done. Liposuction in Dallas, Texas cost a lot more than the same procedure in Iowa City, Iowa.
Prior to entering into any surgery, you should know exactly how much the procedure will cost you. Do not book a surgeon that cannot give you an exact figure. Sometimes, you will see an advertisement listing the cost of a particular procedure, though this price may not always be accurate.
One area where confusion can reign is the fee for the surgery. The fee usually only covers the cost of the surgeon, not the incidentals like the surgical room and so on. Ask for an estimate of all prices to make sure there is no confusion.
Still, you probably are wondering what an estimated fee is for some of the popular procedures. Well, here we go. An abdominoplasty will run $400 or more. A breast reduction procedure can be $5,000. A facelift can set you back $6,000 and can run a lot more depending on what you are doing.
Coming up with $5,000 for a procedure is not easy. Yes, most surgeons will take credit cards, but credit card debt is expensive. As an alternative, many offices will give you a payment plan that can make things much easier. Make sure to ask them.
Is there any possibility of just taking a loan to finance your surgery? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. There are a number of outfits who provide such financing, including Capital One. Yes, the credit card company is also into plastic surgery financing.
If you want to get really radical, you can go old school to pay for your surgery. Yes, you could actually save up the money. In a credit card society, this is a fairly foreign concept. Still, it is a good way to make the results of your surgery even more satisfying.
If you are good at something, do not give it away for free. This certainly applies to plastic surgery. What would you pay to have that things about your body that bugs you fixed? Now how does that compare to the fee of the surgeon? Start saving!
March 04 2009 06:08 am | Health
