The True Costs Of Bariatric Surgery

At an all-you-can-eat buffet, it’s hard not to notice signs of the growing obesity epidemic that’s plaguing every developed nation from Malaysia to China or Mexico.  Patrons fill their plates with shockingly large mounds of food, somehow managing to shovel it all down…and go back for more. Although not everyone who enjoys this hedonistic style of dining out is morbidly obese, it does give us a glimpse into our own culture of fat…yes our environment is making us fat, and we’re not doing much to change a thing about it. We should, since the true cost of obesity is not something we can ignore for long.  Our children are now becoming obese, and that means a sad picture of lifelong health issues which also lead to financial and psychological issues as well.  

Are You Considering Bariatric Surgery?

If you are morbidly obese and have considered bariatric surgery, then it’s also important to consider the “true cost of bariatric surgery”, which is this:

What is the cost of NOT having the surgery?

Maybe you’re considering the risks of surgery.  Maybe you’re considering the substantial cost of surgery.  But have you considered the health risks of not having bariatric surgery?  Have you considered the cost of not doing it? As you’re about to find out, although surgery is expensive and comes with risks, the risks and cost of not having it are equally frightening…if not more so.

Our Modern Culture is Killing Us

Bit by bit, modern life is causing us to become morbidly obese at alarming rates.  The abundance of food is only the beginning..as food is relatively cheaper now than it used to be, but the types of food that have become really cheap are all the wrong types.  Processed, trans-fat oils and food that’s loaded with sugar are literally so cheap they’ve become the staple diet of many of us. How will you combat these strong cultural influences, for the rest of your life? How will you go against the tide of culture to lose the extra weight you’re carrying, even after you’ve tried every diet ever invented? If you’re a candidate for bariatric surgery, you owe it to yourself to think of the true cost of the surgery vs. the literal cost.

The Literal Cost of Bariatric Surgery

Of course money is a consideration- surgery is not cheap.  Of the major types of weight loss surgery, you’re not going to get off any cheaper than RM 12,000, and that’s for Intra Gastric Balloon procedure, not even a full surgical procedure!  Here are some ballpark figures for common types of weight loss surgery in Malaysia:

• Adjustable Gastric Banding: RM 35,000 upwards
• Sleeve Gastrectomy: RM 32,000 upwards
• Roux-en Y Gastric Bypass: RM 35,000 upwards

The True Cost of Bariatric Surgery

It’s clear that surgical procedures are expensive.  But let’s compare the cost of living the incredibly unhealthy lifestyle of a morbidly obese person. For starters, you’re very likely to get diabetes mellitus when you’re so overweight.  This requires that you be on medication, which also means monthly visits to the doctor.  You’re looking at: doctor visit: RM100 + medication: RM 300 = RM 400/month or RM 4,800/year (meds get more expensive over time) That means, in six years of living with obesity-triggered diabetes, you’ll have spent more than if you’d gone ahead and scheduled yourself a Roux-en Y gastric bypass surgery. Of course we can perform this simple math exercise for any of the multitude of obesity-related diseases you’re likely to get when you live with the disease for year after year.

• How about missed work due to obesity-related issues?
• How about the cost of having a heart attack?  In the region of > RM100,000
• Blood pressure medication: RM300 per month.  Also, this medication does nothing to address the cause of high blood pressure.  In other words, it only controls symptom but does nothing for obesity, the cause.
• On top of the expense of these and other medications, you’ll experience nutrient depletion as a result of taking them.
• Nutrient depletion causes its own range of quality of life issues.
• Speaking of quality of life, living as a morbidly obese person means living a life that’s uncomfortable, unsatisfying and depressing.  Better figure in the cost of therapy too.
• There are at least three dozen other diseases caused by being obese, including hypertension, cancer, and even Alzheimer’s.
• How about your personal life- are you attractive to potential mates?  Do you even have a sex drive any more?
• What kinds of job opportunities have you lost by becoming the unwilling victim of discrimination?  Employers are reluctant to hire obese people for a variety of reasons, including the impression that they’ll call in sick more often than their thinner counterparts.  And this does often happen to be true, unfortunately.
• Also, how are your nights?  Do you sleep well?  Chances are, you haven’t had a good night’s sleep in years if you’re morbidly obese.  Think what this alone does to your health and your mental state.

Just think: all this avoidable, and treatable with bariatric surgery.  If your doctor thinks you’re a candidate, consider yourself fortunate that you have a solution in your grasp that could change your life forever. The average cost of bariatric surgery is RM 35,000.  Now, in light of what you know about the true cost of living with morbid obesity, doesn’t that price tag seem worth having your life back?