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Is Liposuction Covered By Insurance?

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Does Insurance Cover Liposuction?

Liposuction is incredibly rewarding as it targets and removes stubborn pockets of fat from areas of the body that you have tried and failed to slim down with diet and exercise alone. 

What is liposuction‘s most valuable benefit? Feeling comfortable and confident in the skin you’re in can have a direct impact on your quality of life and improve your mental health. It can also improve your physical health in the long run by encouraging you to maintain your sculpted body contours through a nutritious diet and regular exercise. So, does insurance cover liposuction? 

Liposuction is an entirely cosmetic procedure you choose for personal reasons and does not directly influence your overall health, so it is not considered a medical procedure under any circumstances.

In most cases, insurance does not cover Liposuction because it is an entirely cosmetic and elective treatment. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, most health insurance plans do not cover liposuction costs. Health insurance companies cover surgeries when they are related to your medical needs and have a direct impact on your health. 

When Might Liposuction Qualify For Medicare Coverage?

The next question asked after “Does insurance cover liposuction?” is, “Does Medicare cover liposuction?” Like most health insurance companies, Medicare does not typically cover the cost of liposuction because it is an elective cosmetic procedure. If, on the rare occasion, liposuction is medically necessary to treat a malformed body part or injury, Medicare may cover it, Healthline says. 

For example, rare cases of Medicare covering liposuction may be to remove a substantial fatty growth, fat accumulated due to lymphedema, or fat that negatively impacts your mobility due to lipedema.

Cosmetic vs. Medical Surgery

According to the American Board of Facial Cosmetic Surgery, aside from reconstructive plastic surgery, which may be considered medically necessary, plastic surgery is almost always an elective procedure, meaning the patient chooses to have it even though it has no impact on their physical health. 

If your health insurance company recognizes that a procedure is unnecessary for your physical health, they will deem it a cosmetic, elective surgery rather than a medical surgery. In this instance, they will not assist in paying for the cost of it.

With cosmetic surgery, you choose to undergo a procedure with full knowledge of its costs, risks, and goals, so your insurance company assumes you are prepared and financially stable enough to afford it on your own.

How Much Does Liposuction Cost?

The cost of liposuction varies depending on the experience of the board-certified plastic surgeon you choose to do your procedure and the geographic location of their office. Other factors that have a valuable impact on the overall cost of your lipo surgery include:

  • The size of your treatment areas and the amount of fat you’re having removed
  • The number of treatment areas
  • The specific areas you’re having treated (if they are more difficult to sculpt around, they may be more expensive)
  • Whether your anesthesia is general or local, and whether by an anesthesiologist or a nurse anesthetist
  • How long the procedure takes your surgeon to complete
  • Whether your surgery is taking place in a hospital or an operating room at a plastic surgery center

The overall cost of your surgery may include:

  • Surgeon’s fees
  • Hospital or OR costs
  • Anesthesia fees
  • Items needed for liposuction recovery time, pain, and anti-infection medications or compression garments
  • Post-procedure follow-up appointments

Men and women in Dallas love liposuction for its long-lasting results and ability to permanently remove fat from practically any body area. As the size of the area treated can vary widely or require more precision from the surgeon, it will impact the cost of your body contouring surgery.

Common areas to address with liposuction, from least expensive to most expensive, include:

Many patients who visit us ask, is liposuction safe and affordable? With liposuction being a safe and effective way to slim down a wide variety of areas of the body, if possible, we recommend addressing them all at once in one surgery, as this is much more cost-effective in the long run than addressing each area in separate procedures.

What Are Financing Options For Liposuction?

While health insurance does not cover liposuction, most plastic surgeons understand that spending thousands of dollars at once on a procedure for most people with average incomes is not easy. For this reason, they offer various financing options and payment plans to make the procedure possible for anyone who wants to enhance their natural body contours and feel their best.

Preferred cosmetic surgery financing companies and their payment plans vary depending on your choice of surgeon. For example, Dr. David Liland in Dallas, Texas, accepts financial assistance from companies including CareCredit, Alphaeon Credit, Lending USA, and PatientFi.

If you receive approval for financial assistance, having applied to a financing vendor for your liposuction procedure, you can choose from different payment plans or loan options. You can achieve the body of your dreams now and pay for it over months or years as agreed.

Are you considering liposuction? Request a consultation with Dallas plastic surgeon Dr. David Liland to determine whether you meet the requirements to undergo this body contouring procedure safely and effectively.