Bupa cover for Gall Bladder surgery

recovering_spendaholic

I need to have my gall bladder out and am covered by BUPA. I went to see a surgeon who confirmed that I need to get it removed and BUPA have said that they will meet all fees in full. Now, I am overweight and need to lose 40kg in order to have a heart ablation procedure, which they will not do unless I am the correct BMI. You would think that that would be a great incentive to stick to a diet but it has made my eating even more erratic and I am finding it really difficult to lose the weight. My question is this: When I saw the surgeon he said he was prepared to put in a gastric band at the same time as he did the keyhole surgery for the gallbladder, but I know that BUPA will not fund this, however I wondered if they might pay for the gall bladder bit, and then let me pay for the band insertion. I could have it done as two separate procedures but then the band insertion would be £6000, but having it done with the gall bladder it would only cost about £1500. Do you think BUPA would do this? I don't want to ring and ask them about it because I know they are really funny about any kind of "cosmetic" surgery.

Beenie

Hi

I had an operation privately, covered by PPP. However, the anaesthetic aspect was not covered in full (won't go into details, but it was an unusual type of anaesthetic) so PPP paid their bit and billed me for the balance. Perhaps BUPA will do that for you, and you end up paying the lesser sum of £1500 (but still better than forking out £6000 and having a second hospital trip).

Good luck!!

chas76

I have had many dealings with my private healthcare recently, and found that my surgeon was happy to do exactly as asked. If I were you I would not mention it to Bupa. I would speak to the surgeon and explain what you want and request that they bill you seperately for the extra surgery, explaining that Bupa will not cover the cost, to ensure they bill you correctly. I would expect your surgeon to be more than happy to do it, as he will still be getting his fee. Good Luck

dmg24

chas76 wrote: »

I have had many dealings with my private healthcare recently, and found that my surgeon was happy to do exactly as asked. If I were you I would not mention it to Bupa. I would speak to the surgeon and explain what you want and request that they bill you seperately for the extra surgery, explaining that Bupa will not cover the cost, to ensure they bill you correctly. I would expect your surgeon to be more than happy to do it, as he will still be getting his fee. Good Luck

Not all surgeons are willing to do this, I know of several that are not (professionally, not through having lots of surgery!). If anything was to go wrong with the billing, your extra procedure could invalidate your BUPA policy, and you would end up with a bill for both procedures.

I would not mess around with something like this, especially when it is your health, and an awful lot of money at stake. You need to give BUPA a call x