A little about me....

[Munchkin]

Just another thought. If you are even considering self pay at all, check with your tax person about what you can write off on your taxes. Probably too late for this year but you could do it for next year. Last time I checked you can write off more than just the procedure. You could do expenses too.

The best thing about self pay is skipping all the insurance crapola and just advance to getting it done.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Just another thought. If you are even considering self pay at all, check with your tax person about what you can write off on your taxes. Probably too late for this year but you could do it for next year. Last time I checked you can write off more than just the procedure. You could do expenses too.

The best thing about self pay is skipping all the insurance crapola and just advance to getting it done.

Deductibility bounced around with the Trump-McConnell tax law changes, but beginning January 1, 2019, all taxpayers may deduct only the amount of qualified medical expenses that exceed 10% of their adjusted gross income.

So, if a single person making $50k pays $23k for surgery, the first $5k (10% of the $50k) doesn't count. The deduction on Schedule A would be $18k ($23k minus $5k) in this example.

 

[Annemarie]

Some good news early on this eve of Christmas...before I even had gotten out of bed, the phone rang - it was Dr. Alverdy's office, calling to set up an appointment! Hopefully, early in 2019, I'll have some better idea of path forward. It may be that they recommend the sleeve and also are unwilling to try to appeal to BC/BS. But I'll feel better having done the research.