Paying for insurance can seem pointless since it costs so much and you still need to pay for seeing a doctor. Yet, your health insurance protects from unbelievably high costs that could easily drown you in debt. And if you ever need surgery for anything, you can go bankrupt as a result of the high costs.
The ways health insurance helps cover the cost of surgery can be too many to count. Beyond helping pay for the cost of actually getting an operation, it can help pay for the equipment the surgical team used. It can pay for the recovery room and the medication they give patients before and after surgery.
Insurance helps pay for almost all the things that go into surgery. Yet, not all insurance policies are the same and some may not cover as much as others. the only way to know for certain if you’re covered for an upcoming surgery is to ask your insurance provider, yourself.
Generally speaking, though, it’s better to have insurance than it is not to have it when you go into surgery. And to learn more about how insurance can help ease the financial burden of surgery, keep reading below!
Learn the Ways Health Insurance Helps Cover the Cost of Surgery Before Subscribing
Before subscribing to a policy, make sure that its terms meet your needs. A policy that doesn’t cover any regular medical treatments you may need is just a money-sink. You’ll be paying into something that you’ll never use, which will only waste money you could use for other things.
Yet, it’s not as easy as just googling what health insurance policies usually cover. Every policy is different, and as new laws are passed that deregulate the health insurance market, a variety of new policies are available. It’s easier than you think to buy into a policy that you won’t ever use, either through an employer or on your own.
Make sure to research common surgeries people undergo during their lives and see if they’re covered by the policy. You should also consult with your doctor, if you have one, about what kind of insurance would be best for you.
Some Surgeries Are Covered More Than Others
Some insurance policies are designed to cover people who may face intense health problems. These cover high-cost surgeries like neurosurgeries or open-heart surgeries, which are usually necessary for a patient to survive. Yet, other policies treat surgeries the same and cover them all the same way.
Most of the time, insurance policies cover the basic costs of undergoing surgery. They will usually cover the costs associated with using a surgery room and the costs of the equipment the surgical team may use. As far as bare-bone expenses go, insured patients don’t usually need to worry.
Surgeon Fees are Frequently Separate From Overall Bills
A lot of the time, the cost of hiring a surgeon may be separate from the overall bill. They’re specialists who spend years, or even decades, perfecting their skills at healing people. They deserve to be paid for all the work time they spent honing their craft.
Yet, since medical school is such a long and expensive process, they often come at a high price. It can cost hundreds of thousands for a specialist to perform a surgery, and they may not always be in your insurance company’s network. If they’re not in-network, you can be left to cover the cost yourself.
Before undergoing surgery, make sure that the surgeon is inside of your network. Most insurance companies offer free and easy online tools to check whether you should go with a particular surgeon or not.
Ask Whether It Covers Pre-Operative Tests
The costs of surgery can begin piling up long before you ever go under. There can be hours, days, or even months spent undergoing pre-operative high-quality care. You may need to put yourself on a special diet and regularly see specialists who track your progress before you go under the knife.
All of that pre-operative work will cost money, and it may not be covered by all insurances. Some tests doctors may want to run may not be covered, and neither may some pre-operative procedures.
Yet, they’re essential for any kind of successful surgery. You don’t want to go without them, under any circumstance. And if your insurance covers pre-operative costs, you won’t need to worry.
Surgery Is Always Expensive, Tests Can Be Cheap
Tests are vital parts of diagnosing a person’s condition and making sure they’re treated correctly. Plus, compared to surgery, they can be cheap. It can cost millions of dollars to undergo surgery, but tests can cost just a few hundred dollars.
It saves you money to pay extra for tests than it would to go right to surgery. And several insurance companies understand this. That’s why many cover a wide variety of tests — to make sure people stay healthy, and to help them save money!
Anesthesia Is Essential for Any Kind of Operation
Anesthesia is a complicated kind of medicine that acts as more than just a sleeping aid. Going under before going to surgery stops nervous activity in a particular region. It targets the kinds of nerves that would make you feel pain and temporarily prevents them from functioning.
It enables doctors to operate without worrying that you may react in pain to anything they do. Anesthesia will also keep you comfortable during the process, so when you wake up it’ll be like nothing happened. Yet, anesthesia can also be an expensive part of the surgical process.
Some people even need anesthesia substitutes, if they suffer from rare ailments like malignant hyperthermia. And the more obscure of a substitute they need, the more costly it can get. Without insurance, you can go bankrupt from the cost of anesthesia alone.
Yet with insurance, you can rest easy knowing you’re covered!
Surgery Is Expensive, so Stay Healthy!
The ways health insurance helps cover the cost of surgery are staggering. A lot goes into a surgery, and it can all come with a price. Yet, with the right insurance policy, you won’t need to worry about doing anything but recovering after your operation.
And for help finding the insurance plan that’s right for you, just contact us. We’ll make sure you and your family stay afloat if any of you need to go under!