How Much Does Obesity Surgery Cost?

The first step in preparing for Obesity surgery is coming to an appointment with one of our surgeons, Mr Chek Tog or Mr Ian Michell.

Then our Assessment Programme involves appointments with physician, dietitian and psychologist.  These appointments do attract a fee and payment is required on the day.

Once we commit to take the journey together to surgery and ongoing care, we ask for an out of pocket payment which is over and above what you receive from your health fund and Medicare.
This covers the out of pocket costs for the surgeon, anaesthetist and assistant at your operation.  It also covers three post operative dietitian appointments.  

It also covers the out of pocket costs for your follow up appointments to see us.  That is, all our post operative appointments are bulk-billed.

If we need to reoperate later for any reason, then as far as we can control things, and assuming you have health insurance to cover your hospital stay, we bill at a “no gap” rate.

If you have insurance, the out of pocket cost for gastric banding is $6000, for sleeve gastrectomy $6500, and for gastric bypass $7000.  It is important to confirm that your health fund will cover you for the operation.  Recently, some health funds have altered their coverage without adequately notifying their customers.

You can consider bariatric surgery if you are not insured.  There are added costs.  It is important to be aware that if there is a problem that prolongs your stay in hospital, you may be liable for significantly higher charges.

Having said that, many people elect to go “self funded”.  Our gap costs for the band and sleeve for uninsured patients are $6500 and $7000.  We work with the hospitals to provide you with an estimate of the expenses of the hospital stay, tailored to your particular circumstances.  We do not recommend undergoing gastric bypass without taking health insurance.

We don’t offer financial options for these payments, but can give you details of some of the commercial providers of finance.  It is possible to access your superannuation funds to help finance the procedure, as morbid obesity is a life threatening condition and surgery potentially is life-saving.  We can help you with filling in the necessary forms and provide a letter to support your application.