How Much Does Gastric Bypass Cost

So how much does gastric bypass cost? Find the answers here in our comprehensive guide.

Gastric Bypass procedures are any group of procedures which are done usually to treat morbid obesity. Morbid obesity is the severe accumulation of fatty tissues that causes excess weight which has many health problems attached to it. All these surgeries to reduce fatty tissues in case of morbid obesity are termed as Bariatric surgery and gastric bypass is only one such operation.

In gastric bypass stomach is first divided into two pouches a small sized upper pouch and a larger lower pouch. It then re-arranges both the pouches in such a way that they stay connected. This restrict food intake and decreases the ability to absorb calories and nutrients from food.


How Gastric Bypass works?

To find out how much does gastric bypass cost, we need to know some things before we go on. The most important result of gastric bypass is weight loss though it’s typically dramatic. The long term mortality of gastric bypass patients usually reduces to 60 percent.

There are many complications in the surgery with 2 percent die within one month of surgery. On the plus side gastric bypass can reduce stomach’s size by more than 90 percent. Capacity of a normal stomach is about 1000ml but after the surgery the capacity is reduced to about only 15 ml in size.

In the gastric bypass pouch is normally made from that tissue of patients stomach,only those tissue are selected that are least susceptible to stretching. Due to the small original size it reduces chances of any noticeable long term change in the volume. What changes is the kind of connection between bowel and stomach. It also changes the ability of small bowel to hold bigger amount of food.

As the time passes the functioning of the pouch grows but till then all the weight loss is done and this grown capacity enables to allow perfect maintenance of your body weight. Due to the reduced size of stomach when a patient consumes small amount of full, first reaction of stomach is stretching of the walls of stomach pouch that develops nerves that convey that message to the brain and tells that you are full. Even if the patient has eaten lesser amount of meal they experience the feeling of fullness and feel as if they have consumed a large meal.

Most of us do not stop with the experience of full tummy, but after the surgery patient learn to consume subsequent bites very carefully and slowly to avoid discomfort such as stomach ache or even vomiting.

To completely understand this surgery and how much does gastric bypass cost, it’s important to know the process of digestion of food. When someone consumes food its churned in the patients stomach which then passes it to the smaller sized bowel. When lumen of this smaller bowel comes in contact with the nutrients, larger number of hormones gets released which includes cholecystikin which comes from duodenum and PPY and GLP 1 which comes from ileum. Having said that all these findings are very much controversial, and why gastric bypass surgery works is still to be conclusively not found.


Success Rates for Gastric Bypass Surgery

Usually weight loss is considered successful when 50 percent of excess weight is lost and the loss that has occurred is sustained for about five years.

For example if a guy is 120 pounds over his normal weight then his weight loss should be of 60 pounds or is a girl is 200 pounds overweight then she should lose 100 pounds and this loss in weight should be sustained for over five years.

If we look at the stats estimated weight loss in case of Roux-ex-Y gastric bypass surgery is about 50 to 70 percent of the over the normal weight and this loss in weight is constant for about 10 years and more. Similar are the stats for Gastric bypass surgery.


Risks involved in Gastric Bypass Surgery

Gastric bypass is no normal surgery so risk involved in this kind of surgery is also pretty extreme. It forces weight loss by decreasing intestinal absorption of food as food bypass a larger portion of stomach and small bowel. Due to this in addition to some of the common surgical complication some patients have also experienced a long term deficiencies of folate, vitamin B12 and iron. Also dumping symptom which causes abdominal cramping and diarrhea is also noted in some patients. Some may also regain the lost weight after few years of the surgery.


How much does gastric bypass cost?

So really, how much does gastric bypass cost? Well, the Cost of gastric surgery can vary depending on type of surgery you choose and if or not your insurance package covers for this kind of surgery. Other factors that would determine the cost is the time of your stay in the hospital. Gastric bypass is actually the most costly of all the bariatric surgeries. But when you ask youself how much does gastric bypass cost, it should also be noted that gastric surgery is a very complicated procedure and one most not take decision of which surgeon should do the surgery on how much does gastric bypass cost. Price range of Roux-en-Y type surgery is about $15,000 to $35,000 across U.S.A.



Watch a video on costs of gastric bypass operations






How much does gastric bypass cost with insurance?

If your insurance covers this surgery than out of your pocket cost will significantly be reduced and should be only limited to the co pays and deductibles in addition to the cost of any incidental procedure that are not covered. If there are any complication during the surgery, especially if a new operation is required then its best to find out if your insurance plan would cover it.

The good news is more and more insurance companies are covering such kind of surgeries in their packages but they do have some strict requirements for eligibility and pre approval is almost always needed. Insurance plan will mostly limit the procedure to one or a few types of surgery. So if you are planning to have this weight reduction surgery in future it’s important that you choose your insurance plan wisely and carefully.

Insurance companies would also require a detailed pre-surgical counseling before giving you clearance for the surgery so its important to find out in advance if or not the pre surgical treatment is covered by them or not.

If your insurance plan does not cover for the pre-surgical treatments, then most probably it will not cover for the complication that may arise during or after the surgery. It’s best to find out in advance the entire contract details from the insurance company’s customer service.