Funding and Appointments

Money, money, money must be funny in a rich man's world!

That's right lets talk money, we all know surgeries are never cheap and gastic sleeves are no exception. You could wait in the public system to save money however the wait is on average 2 years. So lets get a little boring and I'll briefly explain the other options I explored and went with.

Private health insurance can be a huge help if you have the right cover reducing your out of pocket expense to anywhere from $5,000-$7,000 depending on your surgeon. If your cover isn't high enough you can always up it and wait a year, however what happens when you need the surgery sooner but dont have $30,000 laying around to spend?

Well that was my situation, yes I could have waited a year to have surgery though I didn't want too. You see I very much want to have children soon and it is recommended not to get pregnant within the first year of your surgery to allow your new stomach yo heal and your body adjust to the new regime before throwing all those extra hormones and changes into the mix. So if your considering surgery and want a family that is something to take into consideration when planning on when to have your surgery done, acting sooner rather then later could save you alot of money, however there is a way to access your super early for such a surgery should you have enough in there to withdraw. I was lucky enough to have been working long enough to be able to use this option.

I was given a brochure for super care from my surgeon as they work with this company to get the paperwork organised and process the application. It involves a letter from your surgeon stating you require the surgery sooner then is possible through the public system as well as specific paperwork to be filled in by yourself and your regular gp to confirm the claim.

Having the help of super care made the process soo much easier as they did all the chasing up for all the necessary paperwork. Once everything was ready the forms were submitted and it was time to play the waiting game, I was told it could take up to 14 working days to process so you can imagine my extreme shock and joy when I recieved my confirmation letter within 24 hours of lodgement.

All that was left was to file the acceptance letter with my superfund and await the transfer of the money into my specified account. This can take up to 7 days, this part hasn't been quite as fast as the acceptance but I have plenty of time to wait for that now.

I'm excited to be moving forward with all the different appointments now that the funding is sorted, I have my physician and dietitian appointments booked for Tuesday the 23rd of October one after another which is very lucky and handy, as well as my follow up with the surgeon on the 30th all leading to surgery on the 12th of November which is most exciting!!

** please note this information is applicable in Western Australia and may vary outside of the state**

xx Sarah