Cover
Loan and complication insurance
Anyone financing cosmetic surgery plans with a fixed instalment. What is usually missing from that plan: the case where the procedure does not turn out as hoped.
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The scenario
You finance a breast augmentation for €7,500, term 48 months, instalment around €175. Eight months after the procedure, capsular contracture develops and the implant has to be replaced. Cost of the revision operation: €5,000 to €8,000. The health insurer declines. The clinic offers goodwill, but not a free revision. You are now paying for two things: the loan instalment and the bill for the correction.
This is not a contrived case. Complications after aesthetic procedures are not common, but they are expensive – and they hit precisely those people who did not pay for the procedure out of petty cash.
Why the health insurer does not pay
In most European countries, statutory health insurers are not obliged to bear the follow-up costs of procedures that are not medically necessary. In Germany, under § 52 Abs. 2 SGB V (Social Code Book V), they may even make insured persons contribute to the costs if an illness is the consequence of an aesthetic operation. In the Netherlands, the basisverzekering (basic health insurance) expressly excludes such treatment; in Austria, France, Italy and Spain, similar rules apply, with some differences in detail. Private health insurance and supplementary insurance as a rule contain the same exclusion.
The point is the same everywhere: anyone who chose the procedure voluntarily bears the risk of its consequences themselves.
What complication insurance covers
Complication insurance – also known as follow-up cost insurance – covers the treatment costs if a complication occurs after an aesthetic procedure: revision operations, hospital stays, medication, and in some cases loss of earnings and repatriation from abroad. It is taken out before the procedure and applies for a specific period afterwards, from one to several years depending on the tariff. Depending on the procedure and provider, premiums range from a few euros to a few dozen euros a month.
The terms matter: which complications are covered, is there an excess, how long does the cover last, are procedures abroad insured too? An independent comparison of providers based on exactly these criteria can be found at Folgekostenversicherung-Vergleich.com; there, an actuary has placed the providers' policy terms side by side.
Thinking about loan and insurance together
Factor the complication insurance premium into your monthly outgoings before you set the loan instalment. With an instalment of €175 and an insurance premium of €15, that is €190 – this is the amount your household budget has to bear. Conversely: anyone who can afford €190 should not choose a €190 loan instalment and leave out the cover.
Incidentally, the payment protection insurance that banks offer with the loan is something different: it pays the loan instalment in the event of unemployment, incapacity for work or death – not the treatment of a complication. For the question of who pays for the revision operation, it is no help.
The partner: beautyprotect
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beautyprotect is a complication insurance developed specifically for aesthetic procedures. It is offered by doctors and clinics in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands and can also be taken out directly. For lipoedema treatment, there is a dedicated product in lipo-protect. Whether and which tariff suits your procedure is something you will find out there – not from us.