BPH

[mrcoyote]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned here, or at least I don't think it has, is the cost for the surgery.
I thought I would pass along something from my own experience with this lately. As some of you know, I had my laser TURP just over a month ago. And I have medical insurance with Blue Cross, so the bulk of it would be paid by them and the remainder by me. I had to pre-pay the surgeon a week in advance, and I understand this is so they can book the hospital operating room and his schedule for surgery. Fair enough. But I now believe there would have been a BIG difference in cost in terms of what I had to pay in the end between laser surgery and conventional (otherwise known as "roto-rooter"). All the bills are just now starting to show up in my mailbox and some of them are surprising, to say the least. The doctor told me if I had the laser surgery, it would be outpatient and I would go home a couple of hours after the surgery and never see a hospital room. But, if he determined I had to go the other route, the so-called "gold standard" roto-rooter, I would be admitted to the hospital after the surgery and I would be there about three days or so, depending on how I did with it. Seeing the bills just for outpatient surgery now leads me to believe the hospital stay would have made the cost of the surgery MUCH greater, even with the insurance company paying the bulk of it. MUCH more. That's something you should be aware of when you choose how you're going to go forward with either method of TURP. It sure wasn't inexpensive even with the laser. I can't imagine the cost of three or more days of care in the hospital on top of that! I'm not old enough to have Medicare w/ supplement
to pay for it. So I imagine that's a different story. But, for people who have to pay a portion of this or for people considering the cost to them, the method of surgery can make a huge difference in the wallet. This is something rarely talked about but I believe it should be. Unless you are Bill Gates, then don't worry too much about it.