When you’re overweight and considering VSG, it’s usually because weight affects every aspect of your life. What comes to mind most often are the everyday struggles—finding clothes that fit, keeping up with more active friends and family, or even just not feeling comfortable in your own skin. But there’s also a big financial drawback to being obese. Considering bariatric surgery such as the gastric sleeve isn’t just about “superficial” things; it’s about a more financially secure life.
The Fat Tax
Gastric sleeve surgery cost may not seem like a bargain until you consider what you’re losing by remaining obese. According to a report released by George Washington University in 2011, it costs women nearly $5,000 a year and men $2,646 a year, on average, to be obese. When you factor in the value of lost life to these annual figures, the numbers increase to $8,365 for women and $6,518 for men. And the researchers acknowledge that even these staggering numbers are probably way too low.
What’s contributing to this “fat tax”? Medical costs are, of course, the most obvious culprit. They’re responsible for two-thirds of the additional yearly expense for women and 80 percent of additional expense for men. Surprisingly, women’s wages—far more than men’s—are likely to be affected when they’re obese. The report indicates that obese working women make 6 percent (or $1,855) less per year when figure a median annual wage of $32,450. Besides direct medical costs and wage discrepancies, obese individuals pay higher life insurance premiums and short-term disability costs, miss work (and, hence, pay) more often, and have lower productivity.
And that doesn’t even touch the fact that overweight and obese people are more likely to die earlier than their healthy-weight counterparts, forfeiting untold income.
Return on Investment for VSG
Getting healthy by electing for a vertical sleeve gastrectomy would be a no-brainer for many overweight or obese patients. Except for that pesky gastric sleeve cost. But here’s where Endobariatric is truly changing lives. Patients who travel right across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, and choose our luxurious, state-of-the-art hospital pay less than $9,000 for the entire procedure. All of our data—which proves we exceed the industry standard in every safety protocol—is on the website. But the bottom line is that the surgery isn’t priced lower because it’s of lower quality. Patients actually receive the same or higher standard of care than in the U.S. The price tag is lower simply because it’s in Mexico.
At Endobariatric, our price includes everything related to surgery and recovery, hotel and ground transportation, prescriptions, lifetime support and nutritional information, and much more. There are no hidden costs or surprises. We can even point you to financing options that make the cost affordable for practically anyone.
Contrast that with the cost you’ll pay in the U.S., which is at least double. (One sleever even shared a social media post from a friend who had a sleeve done in the U.S. and whose surgery bill alone was almost $67,000. Let that sink in for a minute). Sometimes surgery in the U.S. is covered by insurance policies; sometimes it’s not. And even if you’re lucky enough to have insurance that covers the sleeve procedure, you most likely have a deductible and co-pay that can quickly add up to the cost of our procedure at Endobariatric. And, unlike at Endobariatric, most U.S. hospitals don’t offer an all-inclusive price. Patients tend to get nickel-and-dimed for things like post-op prescriptions, follow-up visits, anesthesiology costs, the actual hospital stay, etc.
The truth is that using a gastric sleeve to help you reach and maintain a healthy weight is literally an investment in yourself. And with our vertical sleeve gastrectomy cost, you don’t have to put your health and life on hold because you can’t afford it.
I invite you to follow us on all our social networks, we are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, we also have our YouTube channel where I’m the host of the #AskDrA Show, where I (Dr. Alvarez) answer frequently asked questions that are sent to me with the Hashtag #AskDrA, subscribe to it! we talk about very interesting subjects.
If you want a more personalized experience and you have Instagram, follow me (Dr. Alvarez) to see my day both in my daily routine and in the operating room, add me! We will have a great time! My username is: gmoalvarez.
“Changing lives…one sleeve at a time”.
