Costs & Finance

What are the costs for surgery?

A common barrier to having Plastic Surgery is the cost and finance. There are THREE main expenses associated with each operation:

Surgeons Fee (including surgical assistants and implants)

The costs of surgery include a fee for the surgeon and assistant based on time in theatre. This fee covers preparing for surgery, immediate post op care and aftercare. 

There is also a fee for Implants (if desired/required).

Anaesthetist Fee

Most anaesthetists charge their fees by the hour, so the longer the operation, the higher the charge.
The anaesthetic fee is usually paid up front.

Hospital Costs

Private Hospitals charge both for the time spent in the operating theatre AND the ward accommodation after surgery. These hospital fees can add a significant amount to the overall cost of surgery.

How to Fund Your Surgery

Self Funded

You can choose to pay the cost and finance outright from your savings, credit cards or a personal loan.  Some patients choose to pre-pay for their surgery using a payment plan before the surgery occurs.

Private Health Insurance

The best way to reduce or eliminate your hospital costs is to take out private health insurance with the right level of hospital cover.

The price of your health insurance varies depending on your level of hospital cover and your excess. Make sure your level of health insurance will cover your chosen plastic surgery procedure.  There may be waiting periods if you need to increase your cover, so take this into consideration when planning your dates.

Your procedure will need to be covered by Medicare (deemed medically neccessary) and you will need a valid medical referral at time of surgery to be able to access your Private Health Insurance.

You can compare different health plans and insurance policies on an insurance comparison site like the government website: www.privatehealth.gov.au

Using Your Superannuation To Pay for Surgery

Some patients choose to fund surgery using their accumulated superannuation funds. Whilst we generally advise caution accessing your super as it can impact your retirement savings, there are provisions to release your super funds on the basis of chronic pain or depression resulting from your condition.

Under special circumstances, the ATO may allow Early Super Fund access on ”compassionate grounds”, which includes for medical procedures to treat life-threatening illnesses and chronic pain.

Your own Superannuation Fund will make the final decision to release the money. Note that not all super funds permit early access of super benefits on these grounds, so you should check with your super fund before applying.

You can find further information on the requirements, including documentation, by visiting the ATO website Early Release of Super page:

Or you can enlist a third-party company to help you through the Super fund withdrawal process for a fee: www.mysupercare.com.au

Medical Finance

There are many independent finance companies that can help fund your surgery. These can be found online by searching for ‘medical finance’. 

You can pay off your surgery over time: you can pay part of the surgery cost up front and then pay the remainder over time typically over 12 or 18 months.

This is NOT financial advice.

Please seek your own financial advisor when considering your options around finance or early superannuation access.