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Financing Options
Dealing with Exclusions
Innova Hospital San Antonio offers multiple financing options:
Depending on the insurance coverage determined by your employer,
your medical policy may not offer bariatric surgery or obesity as
a covered benefit. This is what insurance companies refer to as
exclusions, which are those items or medical services that are not
covered by the health plan. An exclusion statement is a section
in your insurance policy that describes what the insurance company
will not pay for. Policies sometimes list these terms such as "surgery
for weight control," "weight control," "surgery
for the treatment of obesity," "gastric bypass surgery"
and others. If your insurance company does not cover your proposed
surgery, you should:
Speak with your employer or Human Resource Department regarding
your coverage. There are times when your employer can add a rider,
request a change or at the very least make changes in the policy
for the coming re-enrollment period. See if there are other insurance
plans that your employer offers, which does cover the surgery. For
example, BCBS may not cover the surgery but United will. Your Human
Resources department can help you with this as well. Ask Human Resources
if after re-enrollment a new policy will be available to cover your
procedure. See if you can switch over to your spouse's insurance,
if their insurance covers weight loss surgery. See if your secondary
insurance covers the procedure.
If you have tried all of the above options or do not want to wait,
financing or cash options are your only remaining choices. While
this is not the most ideal situation, please note that out-of-pocket
expenses related to necessary medical care are tax deductible. The
details about this tax break are available in IRS publication 502,
Medical and Dental expenses. To benefit from this deduction it will
be necessary to itemize your expenses. The deduction only kicks
in when expenses exceed 7.5 %of your Adjusted Gross Income. This
may help those that are considering these options.
Interest rates for the above companies range from 0% for 18 months
to as high as 23% based on your credit score. We encourage you to
apply to all of the above options since one company saying "no"
does not mean the others will as well.
Call 210-368-7445 now to sign up for a FREE Weight Loss Surgery
Seminar.
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