My 7 year old has to have surgery to fix a hydrocele. I am wondering if anyone has had this done lately and what the cost was? I am trying to figure out the best insurance option.
Thanks
My son had a hernia repair done when he was 3 months old, in 2007. At the time the cost was just a bit less than my c-section cost, around $11k.
Andrea L. is correct--you must check with the surgical practice who will be doing it.
How soon, or how serious is his condition?
If he has to have surgery ASAP, how long will finding insurance for it take?
Does the Doc's office/Surgeons office, tell you if this is covered or not?
Many thousands? I can't remember, but after getting a huge bill for it, I fought with the insurance company and ended up getting it for free.
But that was with an existing insurance company, not one I signed up with right before the surgery. Maybe Obamacare will be useful for your dilemma.
Well in my experience and there have been a whole lot of studies done on this, you cannot rely on averages from what other people paid for the procedure.
Medical cost is completely unregulated and hospitals can and do charge whatever they want for they services. The cost of the same procedure can vary by more than 100% between hospitals in the same city or county...
Your best bet is to call the facilities that are in YOUR area and that you are considering for the surgery. Take into consideration what the estimates contain, some will not include things like the payment for the surgeon or anesthesia... it is always best to get a written estimate if you have time to wait for that.
Don't expect hospitals to disclose their fees voluntarily, many facilities are not transparent on purpose and will refuse, or you have to dig your way up the food chain until you find someone who can help you. Only a few places are upfront about their fees.
I don't envy you... this is worse than pulling teeth.
Good luck.
Not sure this will help, but call hospital billing office and check some pricing, however they may not be able to do more than a rough estimate.
Depending on insurance and time of year and previous use of your policy will depend on whether you have met deductibles and out of pocket expenses. Many insurances go by calendar year, so for example, if it's early in the year and your child's surgery is the first use of the policy, then you may have to pay several hundred to a few thousand dollars before the policy kicks in. If your policy is something like 80/20, you may have to pay 20% of the bill before the insurance picks up the 80%. Hospitals sometimes bill differently for self pay vs. those with insurance and there are sometimes "write offs" for some insurances. Anesthesia is often billed separately from the hospital bill. Different hospitals bill differently, so one may be several thousand dollars different than the next based on whether they are "for profit" or "nonprofit". Sometimes they will pro-rate based on the person's ability to pay, or set up a payment schedule.
If you don't have insurance, you might have to make an "upfront down payment" before having the surgery, especially if it is an "elective" surgery, not an emergency.
If you don't have insurance, you can shop around to see what is affordable by talking to an insurance broker.......someone who sells different types of policies which can best serve your needs.
My mother was in the hospital for 5 days with pneumonia, admitted through the emergency room, did not have any surgery, just routine care, oxygen, respiratory therapy treatments, IV antibiotics and the bill was almost $45,000. But she has Medicare and a supplemental policy that covered everything.
Ask surgeon and hospital. They would know.
