HomeAbout MeTransitionBody ArtPicturesSite MapUpdatesContact Me
SearchDonatelocation: Transition > Chest Surgery > Costs
|
Because GRS Montreal owns the hospital where the surgeries are done, the cost for the one night hospital stay and four nights at the Convalescence House is much less than it would be in the United States. The following is a summery of medical costs for the subcutaneous mastectomy surgery with Dr. Menard, as indicated by a letter he sent me on June 13, 2003. Since all of these were paid out of pocket, they are listed in red.
In addition to these costs, GRS Montreal required some pre-op bloodwork and a chest x-ray, all of which were paid partially by insurance because my doctor billed them as researching a possible viral infection. The portion insurance paid (80% of total) is listed in green, and the out of pocket portion is listed in red.
After I returned home from surgery, I went to the emergency room because the right side of my chest was continuing to swell. A couple days later I had to visit my local Breast Care Center to get the developing hematoma drained and resulting chronic swelling checked out. I'm not sure how the office billed my insurance, but they decided to pay anyway. The portion insurance paid (80% of total) is listed in green, and the out of pocket portion is listed in red.
In February 2004, I began going to the Sports Physical Therapy clinic at my school for ultrasound therapy in hopes of reducing the chronic swelling in my chest. Since insurance paid for all of the costs associated with this (it was billed it as general therapy for a chronic condition), all costs are listed in green.
In February 2005, I decided to see a Dr. Donald Laub, a local plastic surgeon (who also does occasional FTM surgeries), mostly out of curiosity to see if he could do anything to improve the visual difference between the right and left sides of my chest. For more information on my visit, see Surgery Experience. Insurance paid 80% for my office visit as it was billed as a surgery consultation; the insurance portion is listed in green and my out of pocket portion is listed in red.
In March 2005, I saw Dr. Menard again, also out of curiosity to see what he would say about the minor difference in the two sides and what it would cost for a minor revision, including raising the left nipple a little. He did not charge me anything for this consultation appointment, and he quoted me a revision would cost $600 USD. In June 2006, I had a pre-revision consultation with Dr. Menard to see if he still felt he could reduce the right side of my chest. He said he could try to even it out with liposuction, or if that didn't work he could open it up and reduce it. Again, he did not charge me for the consultation, and I set up a revision date for late-August 2006. Unfortunately, I had to cancel it due to getting into graduate school last-minute.
In December 2007, I found out I needed to have a revision on my bottom surgery so I decided to try to get my chest revision done at the same time in order to minimize the number of times I had to undergo anesthesia. I had a consult with a plastic surgeon who works at the hospital where my bottom surgery revision would occur, and he agreed to do my chest revision at the same time as my bottom surgery revision. Since I was unsure of how consulting with the plastic surgery department would affect the possibility of insurance paying for my bottom surgery revision, I paid for the chest surgery consultation out of pocket. Because it was performed during the same time as my bottom surgery revision, the chest surgery revision was paid for by my insurance and I cannot differentiate between the two exact costs (I only know the total amount billed/paid, see bottom surgery costs). The insurance portion is listed in green and my out of pocket portion is listed in red.
Unfortunately, I again developed a hematoma after the chest surgery revision, still leaving a scar tissue lump that I was unsatisfied with. In February 2009, I had another bottom surgery revision and my plastic surgeon offered to remove some of the scar tissue that built up from the post-revision hematoma during this surgery, combining this (2nd) chest surgery revision with the 2nd bottom surgery revision, similar to how the 1st chest surgery revision was combined with the 1st bottom surgery revision in March 2008. I have no costs listed associated with this second chest surgery revision, because they are all included with the costs associated with the bottom surgery revision, and I cannot differentiate between the two (I only know the total amount billed/paid, see bottom surgery costs). In this case, follow-up appointments were also covered by the bottom surgery costs. SUPER GRAND TOTAL (all chest surgery costs on this page): $7,457.59 - $1,732.06 paid for by insurance - $5,725.53 paid out of pocket |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||