Pre-Paying for surgery?

[TheRatPack]

Has anyone ever pre-paid for surgery? My doctor says I can pay my co-pay/balance the day before surgery but I'm wondering about just calling now and paying for it. I can see how it would cause a problem if it was rescheduled or canceled...etc but wonder if it's that odd to call now (surgery is first of August) and pre-pay for it? Or calling in July and paying for it...that way I'm not dealing with it the day before when I'm sure I'll be scatterbrained enough.

 

[Madison'smommy]

Has anyone ever pre-paid for surgery? My doctor says I can pay my co-pay/balance the day before surgery but I'm wondering about just calling now and paying for it. I can see how it would cause a problem if it was rescheduled or canceled...etc but wonder if it's that odd to call now (surgery is first of August) and pre-pay for it? Or calling in July and paying for it...that way I'm not dealing with it the day before when I'm sure I'll be scatterbrained enough.

I doubt it would be a problem. I used to work for a surgeon, and he would never refuse a patient who wanted to pay their bill! Unless you have any issues that may prevent you from passing any pre op requirements, I would say go for it! It cant hurt to ask them!

 

[cdrn1]

But why would you? What's the benefit? Keep your money in your interest bearing account and pay for it when you have to.

 

[TheRatPack]

But why would you? What's the benefit? Keep your money in your interest bearing account and pay for it when you have to.

I don't know....cause I just want to LOL Actually, the surgery is only a bit over a month away....so an interest bearing account wouldn't really bring me anything....my portion is not 10's of thousands of dollars LOL And one reason I want to pre-pay is because the money is there now, and I'll be a bit more at ease if everything is taken care of and all I'll have to do is show up.

 

[Swimalie]

My dad pre-paid for his surgery. His surgeon doesn't take Medicare so he had to pay for it out of pocket. The doctor required it to be pre-paid but it covers my dad (and all of his patients) until the patient is 100% cured (this is for cancer) whether it takes 1 year or 20. Can you pre-pay on a credit card? That is what my dad did so he also got the reward bonus

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

We prepaid the surgeon's fees (the 10% our insurance requires us to pay) at DH's last office visit prior to the surgery. That was about 2 weeks before. I completely agree with you that the day before that'll be the last thing you want to worry about. To me, it would be worth a few pennies of interest to get it out of the way.

 

[Lucky4me]

The only problem with this is you don't really know what the final bill is going to be and will most likely get a new bill after the surgery. May as well wait and pay it off at once. If you have the money now and are afraid you'll spend it, just put it in another account you're less likely to use.

 

[peanut12392]

DS just had surgery. Prior to the surgery the hospital called us with an estimate of what our part would be after the insurance pays. They offered us a 15% discount if we would prepay. They would refund any overpayment, or we would still get 15% off of any underpayment. I didnt know hospitals would do this, so of course we prepaid. Maybe you could ask for a discount if you prepay!

 

[LisaInNc]

I had to prepay my co pay or what they estimated my co pay to be. My insurance was so good I got half of it back after the surgery!

Lisa

 

[SCHBR'smom]

My DH was asked to prepay before his surgery last March. It was nice to not have to worry about it the day of his surgery.

 

[TheRatPack]

Thanks everyone.....and yes I know exactly what the surgery will cost. It's a surgery they do on a daily basis and they have a set fee worked out with the hospital. It covers the surgery and everything like anesthesia...etc. If any complications arise they will bill my insurance for those and send me a balance. As far as the surgery goes....I'll have to pre-pay a set amount regardless of whether it's the day before or the month before....so I'd rather just do it now. I'll have to call them and ask what the earliest I can pay it would be....thanks again for sharing your experiences.

 

[Swimalie]

Most of all, good luck with the surgery and recovery.

 

[mamalle]

most require copays and percentages now for any elective surgery. Prior to mine I had to pay the surgeon and the day of surgery my copay and 10%. Granted I received a check back from the surgery center as I overpaid but it wasnt worth arguing with them beforehand.