Gastric Bypass - Cost Information
(Roux-en-Y or Mini, Single-anastomosis Gastric Bypass)

• There are several components to the cost.
• The out of pocket cost (gap fee) is $7000
• This includes:
  • Anaesthetist cost ($1000)
  • Gastroscopy (surgeon’s cost)
  • Dietician review (two sessions: one before and one after the operation)
  • Gastric bypass (surgeon and assistant surgeon’s cost)
  • Reviews by surgeon after operation while in hospital and the first review after discharge from hospital.

Gap payment or Out-of-pocket fee is what doctors charge in addition to Medicare and private insurance payment. Therefore no rebate is payable from either Medicare or your private insurance.

• Initial Consultation with surgeon
  • $ 220 (Telehealth OR Face-to-face consult)
    • Medicare rebate $76.15
    • You’re out of pocket: $143.85
• Review consultations with surgeon
  • Before surgery
    • $ 80. Medicare rebate $38.
    • You’re out of pocket: $ 42
  • After surgery
    • First review: $ 0
    • Subsequent reviews: $ 50. Medicare rebate $38.
    • You’re out of pocket: $12.
• Hospital Excess fee
  • This is charged by the hospital, based on your insurance plan.
  • You only need to pay this once each calendar year on the first hospital admission.
• Pathology and Radiology
  • determined by the arrangements of your insurance company with different pathology and radiology service providers.

• Most private health insurance covers “Bariatric Surgery” (Obesity surgery, Weight loss surgery) with their top level hospital cover (Gold level).
• The MBS number (Medicare Benefits Schedule) for gastric bypass is 31572.
• You are advised to confirm your cover with your insurance.
• If you have purchased your insurance or upgraded your hospital cover recently, you would be required to serve a 12-month waiting period before you could use your insurance. Obesity is usually considered as a pre-existing condition, therefore no exemption for the 12-month requirement could be applied.
• We still encourage you to contact us and start your weight loss process if you need to serve some waiting period. Most of your consultations and investigations before the surgery are not covered by insurance. Therefore you can complete them before your insurance becomes ready.

• We do not recommend having gastric bypass without insurance due to its potential financial risks to our patients.
• Please consider referral to a public Bariatric service (eg. Box Hill Hospital) OR
• Purchase a private insurance and serve 12-month waiting period
• We are happy to see you and explore other options, such as sleeve gastrectomy (gastric sleeve), if you do not have private insurance.

• All surgeries carry risks. For gastric bypass, the average risk for major complications is 2-5%.
• When complications occur, you may need return to theatre for control of bleeding, for example. You may also need Intensive Care Bed ($4445 per night) instead of standard ward bed ($1335 per night). Your hospital stay may be extended as a result.
• With insurance, you will not have to worry about the financial implications of any unexpected complications, as they will be covered by your insurance.
• If you are self-funding your surgery, you will be responsible for paying all the additional costs, should any complications arise. This could amount to a very significant sum beyond the initial “estimation of fees”.

• You can have bariatric (weight loss) surgery at some public hospitals in Melbourne, for free.
• Harry Frydenberg AM and Mr. Yuan Cheng are consultant surgeons at the Bariatric Unit, Box Hill Hospital (Eastern Health).
• You will need to obtain a referral from your GP to one of the public Bariatric services.
• Your waiting time is based on the urgency of your condition and the waiting list of that hospital.
• In general, the current waiting time for public bariatric clinic is much longer than private service.
• You would also need to expect part of or the whole surgery to be performed by fellows or registrars with supervision of the surgeon, in a public hospital. Fellows are qualified general surgeons having sub-specialty training in bariatric surgery. Registrars are hospital doctors at various stages of their training to become a surgeon.

Please contact us and find out details about your cost.