How To Use Medical Financing To Pay for FTM Top Surgery (2024)

Wondering how you'll pay for Top Surgery? In this article, you’ll find out how medical financing can help you bridge the gap between your savings and the cost of surgery.

The cost of Top Surgery varies from about $6000 to $10,000, but can also be as high as $16,000. If you don't have sufficient savings or insurance coverage, medical financing can help you come up with this large upfront cash payment. Even if you have insurance that covers gender-affirming surgery, you might have to pay a large deductible or other costs that insurance doesn’t cover. With a medical loan, you can pay the cost of Top Surgery over time. After you receive the borrowed money, you’ll make monthly payments until the loan is paid back in full. You can get a medical loan through brick-and-mortar financial institutions or from one of many online lenders.

There are both benefits and drawbacks to using medical financing to help you pay for Top Surgery. Let’s start with the positives:

Medical loans tend to have lower interest rates than credit cards and come with a fixed rate so your monthly bill won’t fluctuate.
With a loan through a medical financing company, you can apply online and get the funds within days of approval — sometimes even as soon as the next business day!
Most medical loans are unsecured, meaning you don’t have to put up any assets as collateral.
You can use the borrowed funds for more than just the surgeon’s fee, such as travel or other costs related to your surgery and recovery.

That all sounds good but you should also be aware of the pitfalls of using medical financing:

Overall, you’ll pay more for your Top Surgery because of the interest added to each monthly payment. Longer loan terms mean lower monthly payments, but you’ll pay more in interest over the life of the loan.
If you have a poor credit score, you could end up with a very high interest rate, plus fees. This can have a very negative impact on your finances and can be a difficult situation to get out of.

Whether it's wise to use medical financing to pay for your Top Surgery depends on your personal and financial circ*mstances and the terms of the financing available to you. If Top Surgery is necessary right now for your health and well-being and delaying it would cause you harm, medical financing may be worth considering. Be sure to carefully review the terms of the financing, including not just interest rates but also repayment periods and other fees. Make sure that you understand the total cost of borrowing and have a plan in place to make timely payments. Monthly payments for Top Surgery will be in the area of $300. If you're unsure about whether or not you can take on the additional debt, it may be helpful to consult with an independent financial advisor.

Unsecured vs secured loans: Your credit score can impact the interest rate and terms that you're offered. If you have a low credit score, you’ll likely end up paying more in interest. In this case, you could apply for a secured medical loan to get a lower interest rate. You would need to put up some form of collateral, which you’d lose if you can’t pay the loan. Alternatively, you could explore ways to improve your credit score before applying for medical financing to get a preferred interest rate.

How To Apply For Medical Financing

The first step to applying for medical financing is deciding how much you need to borrow. In addition to the estimate you get from your surgeon, consider other expenses related to your surgery such as transportation, accommodation, medical supplies and prescriptions.
Next, get a credit score report. If there are any errors in the report, get those fixed right away.
Many medical loan lenders will let you get prequalified, a process that provides you with loan offers without hurting your credit. Go ahead and get quotes from multiple lenders to find the best interest rates, loan terms and conditions. Look for an interest rate that’s below 10%.
Apply for the loan. A credit check, salary verification and other information will be required. If your loan is approved, you’ll be able to access the funds within 1-7 business days.

Medical Financing Companies

You can apply for medical loans at the following websites:

Alternatives to Medical Financing

Medical loans can be a good idea if you have a good credit score (670 and above) and the financial flexibility to pay off the loan. If you’re not a good candidate for medical financing, you can explore the following alternatives for ways to come up with the money to pay for your Top Surgery:

Payment plans: Some surgical practices offer payment plans. For example, Dr. Hope Sherie has a payment plan. Find out how it works here.

Surgery Grants: These organizations offer grants for gender-affirming surgeries.

Credit cards: You have to be aware of high interest rates, but credit cards can be a viable option for financing your Top Surgery, especially if you can find introductory zero-interest rate offers.

Hospital provided financial assistance: If you’re having surgery with a surgeon who is employed at an academic medical center, ask if the hospital offers any financial assistance to patients.

Retirement savings: If you have a 401(k) retirement savings account through your employer, you might be able to borrow money from the account.

Crowdfunding: To execute an effective crowdfunding campaign you have to ask people for help and this is a skill that not everyone has. If you’re planning to raise surgery money with crowdfunding, here are some best practices.

More Tools and Resources

CareCredit’s Monthly Payment Calculator
Considering a Medical Credit Card? Proceed With Caution - by nerdwallet

Last updated: 06/15/24