Do You Need To Save Money for Major Medical Procedures?
Is there a major medical procedure in your near future? If so, you may be worried about money. Specifically, you might be asking yourself if you need to save money for this surgery to happen. The answer to that is complicated. Partially, it depends on the kind of operation that you want or need to get.
And then you also have to add insurance costs into the mix. The one thing that you should not do is walk into a situation thinking that surgery will be easy or inexpensive.
Consider different types of surgery that may be on your mind. For people who have gone through a major surgery already, there are post-operative surgeries that can be quite expensive that are part of the healing process as well. Do you have enough money to handle this long tail of bills?
Cosmetic surgeries are things that people will consider getting to improve their standard of living, but if the cost is greater than the benefit, you might need to do some soul-searching. Of course, it is not the same as getting LASIK for cataracts (also, does insurance cover LASIK?) or for vision correction. Mixed in with all these points of curiosity about your surgeries, sometimes it is difficult to tell how much insurance will cover and how much it won’t.
Post-Operative Surgeries
Many people have to have life-changing surgery at some point in their lives. But the healing process is not easy, especially for invasive procedures. In these cases, you might have to have further surgery done to help you heal, as in the case of getting a vascularized lymph node transfer. So not only will you have to pay for the first surgery, but you need to be able to afford the operations that come after as well.
Cosmetic Surgeries
A cosmetic surgery, by definition, is not a necessary operation. But that doesn’t mean it won’t improve your standard of living. The question is, do you feel that the cost is greater for the benefit when it comes to reducing your savings?
As an example, many women choose to save up to have breast enhancement surgery because they feel it will improve the quality of their life. The critical thing to consider is that should that money go to something more necessary? If you are struggling with bills or other basic life necessities, saving for cosmetic surgery might not make sense.
Where Does Health Insurance Fit?
Regardless of what type of surgery you want, health insurance may or may not help you out. Getting health insurance right now is very confusing. The health insurance marketplace is in flux, and so it can be difficult to tell what your premium is going to be, what your deductible is going to be, and what kind of coverage is included in various plans. Because of this, make sure that you talk to all necessary parties in detail before choosing to sign a contract about a surgical procedure.
