qu: cost gyne surgery and general anethesia

[wasatchm]

hi,

I just recently had an appiontment with a plastic surgeon.  we discussed the surgery and costs.  he has one price he charges for a certain type of procedure.  his fee for gyne surgery was $1500.  this fee was the same regardless of whether I have a minor or moderate case of gyne or whether I had gyne surgery on one or both breasts.  my question is, is this normal?  I was actually glad because I think I have a severe case of gyne (one side is much worse than the other).  if he charged by the amount of breast tissue that was removed, I think it would of been a pretty high priced surgery (compared to most gyne surgerys).  

also, is general anethsia normally used for gyne surgery?  does the surgeon decide whether general anethesia will be used or not?  it appears to me I could save quite a bit of money if the surgery was done with local anethesia.   the plastic surgeon gave me contact information for the facility and general anethesiologist that would be used for the surgery (if I decide to have him do the surgery).  he told me the general anethesiologist charges a set fee for each type of surgery (or procedure) just as the plastic surgeon does.  does anyone have an idea of how much a general anethesiologist would charge (in comparion to the plastic surgeon)?  I'm assuming it would usually be less than the plastic surgeon.  just trying to get an idea of the total cost (surgeon fee+general anethesia fee+facilities fee=total cost).  oh, one more thing... the plastic surgeon I talked to does his surgery at a main hospital in the salt lake area.  I know the hospital fee (facilities fee) will not be cheap.  would there be any disadvantage to finding a plastic surgeon that would do the surgery at his own location?  I'm sure doing that could save me some money too.  I'm just hoping to eliminate any uneccessary costs.      

thanks


BA

[monzo]

I think its 500 for a gen anst..... around there forsure... where are you from dude?

[boobhater22]

Wow, where is your plastic surgeon located?

[wasatchm]

That plastic surgeon is located in SLC.  I don't think I am going to have him do the surgery though.  I asked him to take some pictures of me and file a claim to see if my insurance would cover it.  he took pictures of me and said he would.  A week later I called him back to find out what the insurance company said and he never filed the claim.  his secretary said there is no way insurance will cover it so there not going to bother (if I want to file a claim I can do it myself).   I think maybe he just doesn't want to do the surgery.    

I do admit I am a bit surprised by the comment that general anesethia would be $500.  for some reason I was thinking it would be at least $1000 or more.  healthcare costs are below the nation average where I live (which is nice).  I'm hoping the whole surgery will be $4000 or less. there are a lot of plastic surgeons in the salt lake city/ogden/provo area (probably over 100).  maybe that will help me get a good price.  unfortunately there are no plastic surgeons here (like on the east and west coast) that hundreds of gyne surgerys per year.  I'd be lucky to find a plastic surgeon here that does more than 2 or 3 a month.

[boobhater22]

Could I know his name, by chance? SLC is not too far from me. For $1500...he might be worth it to me...though I would have to see his before/after pics.

You could always drive down to CA for the surgery--it wouldn't be that far from sLC. Or fly...or take the bus.

99% of gyne victims do not get the surgery paid for by insurance companies...that is a true fact.

[wasatchm]

I do admit, I would be lucky if insurance covered it.  I know my case is probably worse than 9 out of 10 people that have the surgery.  I did get the General anethesia fee ($500-$600) and facilities fee ($1500...ouch).  I was also told it is required by law (here in utah) that any breast tissue removed from the body must be examined by a pathologist. I'm betting that will be at least a couple hundred more dollars so grand total would be ($1476 "surgeon fee" + $1500 "facilities fee" + $500 "general anethesia" + $200+ "pathologist" fee = $3900+.  

[nukem2k5]

Mine was $4040.

[wasatchm]

the surgeon that quoted me $1500 was a Dr. Patton (Salt Lake City).  his office is located near LDS hospital.  is $1500 a good price?  just curious.  I probably gonna look elsewhere to get the surgery done.  I had a great initial consultation with him.  he answered all my concerns before I had a chance to bring them up.   the only negative was he didn't have a lot of pictures to show me of previous patients.  however from the pictures he did show me, his work seemed to be good.  I was hoping to find a surgeon in this area that specialized in gyne surgery (doing it at least a couple times a week).  I'll probably be lucky to find a surgeon here that does it a couple times a month or more (which I don't mind as long as he can show he has provided excellent results to his patients).  

[wasatchm]

by the way, if I am required by law to pay for a pathologist to examine any tissue removed from my body then certainly it would be deemed "medically necessary" wouldn't it?  I'm just getting at the point my insurance company should pay for the examination of my breast tissue.   also, if the pathologist determined the breast tissue should of been removed (for some reason, breast cancer, tumor, etc.  then insurance would have to cover the cost of everything correct?  even though we did not know it was medically necessary to have to breast tissue removed till AFTER THE SURGERY.    I know chances of that happening are slight to none (having breast cancer or tumor, etc).  I just want to know what my insurance company is entitled to pay in the even certain things happen.