personal loan for jaw surgery? other finance options?

[dayeangphurr]

has anyone ever taken a personal loan to finance their surgery? if so wat is ur experience with it and any tips/advice?

im under obamacare and jus in case surgery isnt covered for me i want to know wat my finance options r.

[glennstanzalone]

People do take out Care Credit to cover a portion of their surgeries but their interest rates are extremely high. Honestly, I wouldn't go that route. Of course, you could also take a home equity loan or something similar for a lower interest rate.

If you are under Obamacare, then you should be able to call the insurance provider with a list of procedure codes and ask them if those procedures are covered under your plan. If they say yes, then have them email the criteria to you to take to your surgeon.

Most surgeons are well aware of these hoops they must jump through to get paid and have good office staff who will write the claim so it will be approved. Don't worry. Just do your research.

Here's an example of Aetna's Orthognathic Criteria for coverage. http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/1_99/0095.html

[dayeangphurr]

maybe im better off jus buying health insurance? and hopefully choose one that will most likely cover me? im wokring two jobs rn and looking for a third one because im trying to save up for the surgery as fast as i can. taking out a personal loan jus seems appealing to me cause its like buy now and pay later eventho it might not b the safest and smartest way.

[glennstanzalone]

Your best option would be to spend time finding a surgeon who does a lot of these surgeries and finding out what insurance they accept & if they have good luck getting the claims approved. Then see if you can buy that insurance.

[glennstanzalone]

Your best option would be to spend time finding a surgeon who does a lot of these surgeries and finding out what insurance they accept & if they have good luck getting the claims approved. Then see if you can buy that insurance.

[snapdresser]

maybe im better off jus buying health insurance? and hopefully choose one that will most likely cover me? im wokring two jobs rn and looking for a third one because im trying to save up for the surgery as fast as i can. taking out a personal loan jus seems appealing to me cause its like buy now and pay later eventho it might not b the safest and smartest way.

Yep, you're definitely better off getting an insurance plan that will cover this for you. What are your symptoms? Do you have bite issues? Sleep apnea? Those seem to be the most common reasons for insurance approval on here. If your Obamacare doesn't cover it, see what plans do, identify what issues you have that would be covered by said insurance (either by looking up the different insurance plans' criteria yourself using google and taking your own bite measurements to get an idea, or by having a surgeon assess you like glennstanzalone said **Note that surgeons usually require an up-front consulation fee somewhere between $200-500 in my experience**), and then wait until you're eligible to move over to that better insurance plan. I've seen several people on this forum change insurance companies simply to get coverage for this surgery, and there's a good reason why: $$$$$.

[dayeangphurr]

Yep, you're definitely better off getting an insurance plan that will cover this for you. What are your symptoms? Do you have bite issues? Sleep apnea? Those seem to be the most common reasons for insurance approval on here.

my bite and airway is fine. ive had a few consultations where i had to take xrays and stuff and the surgeons never said anything about either of those things. i tried taking a sleep study to see if i had sleep apnea or not but i couldnt fall asleep the whole time i was in the lab so idk about that. i do sleep with my mouth open tho which im trying to figure out the reason for because if my airway is fine then that shouldnt b happening rite? i even sleep with my mouth taped now jus to see if it would b difficult to breathe thru my nose but im still alive so im guessing its not because of that either the only other thing i could think of is because i have lip incompetence that is why i sleep with my mouth open? and i dont even know if thats enough reason to get coverage

is there a way for me to find out how much coverage i will get before committing to a health plan? the last thing i want is to choose one and then find out later on that the plan is only covering a small amount or even any at all

[snapdresser]

Yep, you're definitely better off getting an insurance plan that will cover this for you. What are your symptoms? Do you have bite issues? Sleep apnea? Those seem to be the most common reasons for insurance approval on here.

my bite and airway is fine. ive had a few consultations where i had to take xrays and stuff and the surgeons never said anything about either of those things. i tried taking a sleep study to see if i had sleep apnea or not but i couldnt fall asleep the whole time i was in the lab so idk about that. i do sleep with my mouth open tho which im trying to figure out the reason for because if my airway is fine then that shouldnt b happening rite? i even sleep with my mouth taped now jus to see if it would b difficult to breathe thru my nose but im still alive so im guessing its not because of that either the only other thing i could think of is because i have lip incompetence that is why i sleep with my mouth open? and i dont even know if thats enough reason to get coverage

is there a way for me to find out how much coverage i will get before committing to a health plan? the last thing i want is to choose one and then find out later on that the plan is only covering a small amount or even any at all

Well, just because you can survive the night with your mouth taped doesn't mean that you weren't experiencing apnea during the night. It might be worth taking another whack at a sleep study. Some places will give you a Lunesta to help you sleep with all the wires on you. I did one without and couldn't fall asleep either, but with the Lunesta the second time around I slept like a baby. I'd inquire about that before showing up to avoid scheduling and stressing out about it just to find out "No, we don't give out Lunesta here."

I'm not really sure if you can get your hands on a full plan brochure before committing to a plan. Luckily I haven't had to deal with that, as I've had the same insurance since I started working. Maybe someone else can chime in? Worst case, just google each plan that's available to you and poke around on their website and try to find a copy of their full brochure. That should list exactly what the benefits are for surgeries, in-patient hospital stays, and anesthesia (the main cost drivers for this surgery) and if there's a specific exclusion for orthognathic surgery, it should say that as well.

[SingleJawMelb]

Why are you getting jaw surgery if your bite is ok?

[glennstanzalone]

The hospital and surgeon fees were billed at 90k. Insurance negotiated and paid their allowed rate of about 25k. If I didn't have insurance, I would have paid 90k. I ended up paying $150.00. They covered my surgery because I needed it. Most insurance companies will fight you and not pay if you don't fit the criteria. And ethical doctors aren't going to cut you open for no reason either. If your bite and breathing are fine, why look at this surgery?

[kpw818]

I considered this, but I have insurance covering mine.

Not sure on Hospital fees, but my surgeon's fees came out to be about 50K. I will be 3K with insurance.