I Want Liposuction--can I Get My Insurance Company To Cover It

Liposuction (also referred to as lipoplasty and suction lipectomy) is a huge thing in America. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans undergo the surgery, which uses suction to remove excess and unwanted fat from a patient's body.

Unfortunately, this procedure has a fairly large price tag. Although it doesn't tend to cost as much as a number of other cosmetic surgeries (such as breast augmentations and tummy tucks), it nonetheless does tend to cost somewhere between one and several thousand dollars. Exactly how much it costs depends on the amount of fat removed, the areas that it is removed from and the geographical region where the surgeon lives.

It seems that it would be safe to say that the procedure would be even more popular if it were cheaper or even free. This line of thinking leads some people to wonder whether or not they could convince their insurance company to pay for the treatment for them. After all, it's healthier to be skinny than fat, right? Isn't that why we're told to eat healthily and to get regular exercise.

Unfortunately, most insurance companies don't really buy this sort of thinking. Additionally, the weight loss associated with a healthy diet and regular exercise is only a part of the reason why people are counseled to be active and careful about what they eat. There are a number of other health benefits, such as an improved immune system, a healthier cardiovascular system and a decreased risk for certain obesity-linked disorders such as metabolic syndrome. There doesn't seem to be much of a way of short-cutting to these health benefits. A lipoplasty does not provide them--you really do need to get the exercise and eat right.

In virtually every case, health insurance companies are not willing to pay for cosmetic surgeries such as a lipoplasty. One notable exception is in the case of women who have exceptionally large and heavy breasts. If it can be shown that the weight of a woman's breasts leads to spine and shoulder problems, or that overly massive breasts interfere with mammograms, then some insurance companies are willing to fund a lipoplasty to help solve these problems. However, even in this case, there's no guarantee that an insurance company will be willing to pay for this.

So, in the majority of cases, a liposuction cannot be paid for by an insurance company. However, if you feel that there is a genuine medical reason why you need the surgery, you can feel free to talk to your insurance company. You probably don't really have anything to lose by checking.