Metal Mouth Message Board

I finished the consult with Arnett/Gunson and also a local orthodonist with a history of working with them.

The fee for the surgery is ~50k including hospital, hotel, etc. It might be less, but that is the most it would be.

The orthodontic treatment is $6,000 for 18 months pre/post surgery. Ortho said there would no additional fees if I needed the braces longer than the standard treatment.

Surgeons still weren't sure on how to specifically approach my condition and included three different surgery. One involved both jaws, another involved the lower jaw and then some specific adjustment on the upper. I have the specific type of surgery name but I don't question Arnett/Gunson's diagnosis.

they won't be 100% certain until my jaw is the right place from the braces. I had braces when I was younger for several years.

So I know many people here have used these surgeons. Are these numbers normal or outrageous? I know they're "rockstars" and that is why I saw them.

But just for peace of mind...I need some feedback here.

There are several Gunson/Arnett patients on here, so hopefully one will chime in with specifics. But, from what I understand, $50K is usually their SURGICAL FEES. The $50K price tag for hospital, anesthesia, and everything combined seems kind of low.

If nobody replies, search for Gunson/Arnett on here and you could come across some of their patients and perhaps private message them.

Good Luck
Chicago29

My surgeon's fees were 80k I think for a redo surgery with Arnett. I'd have to look at my bill for the exact number. Insurance (anthem of CA) covered 18k. Hospital fees for 2 days were 106k. Insurance covered all of it. I think anesthesia was like 4k and the insurance covered all that too. I'm still fighting to get the insurance to cover the assistant surgeon-for some reason they keep rejecting the claim. It's annoying I want my money to pay tuition!

Under 50k for the surgeon's fees is pretty typical for a first time surgery with them I believe. The money was worth it for me - its up to you to decide for yourself if its worth it for yourself.

cvn wrote:My surgeon's fees were 80k I think for a redo surgery with Arnett. I'd have to look at my bill for the exact number. Insurance (anthem of CA) covered 18k. Hospital fees for 2 days were 106k. Insurance covered all of it. I think anesthesia was like 4k and the insurance covered all that too. I'm still fighting to get the insurance to cover the assistant surgeon-for some reason they keep rejecting the claim. It's annoying I want my money to pay tuition!

Under 50k for the surgeon's fees is pretty typical for a first time surgery with them I believe. The money was worth it for me - its up to you to decide for yourself if its worth it for yourself.

100,000????

the surgical fee was ~40,000 according to the treatment plan but i figure 50k total with hotel and hospital, etc.

was the hospital fee 100k or 100k including surgery?

i dont think my insurance will cover any of this. did you have arnett or gunson?

Yeah hospitals aren't cheap, and goleta is a private one. I stayed two nights - most people only stay one, so that makes it a bit cheaper. I really didn't have any trouble getting the insurance to pay the hospital fees, although I did almost have a coronary when I first opened the bill. The surgery is billed separately and has to be paid in full before the surgery. You can talk with arnett's insurance people - they know pretty well what most insurances will pay and not pay. The biggest expense for most people is the surgeon's fees as far as I know. Insurance doesn't really cover much of it. I had Arnett. Hotel for 3 weeks in the off season was like $2500 because Santa Barbara is very pricey. I'd expect it to cost more in the vacation season.

I had double jaw surgery with Gunson, one night in the hospital. My surgical fees were around $75k because of the extensive bone grafting I had to have done. My hospital fees were around $80k for one night. All my hospital fees were covered by my insurance. About $14k of my surgery was covered. Surgery was over a year ago and I am still fighting for them to pay more. My insurance was out of network.

CaliforniaKid wrote: 100,000????

I think in another arnett/gunson thread someone mentioned this was only the "billed" amount, not the amount that was actually paid. I don`t know how exactly this works in the US.
all I can say is that this is far from the costs an orthognathic surgeon patient can actually cause in 2 days, even if you tried.

asmileconnectsus wrote:I had double jaw surgery with Gunson, one night in the hospital. My surgical fees were around $75k because of the extensive bone grafting I had to have done. My hospital fees were around $80k for one night. All my hospital fees were covered by my insurance. About $14k of my surgery was covered. Surgery was over a year ago and I am still fighting for them to pay more. My insurance was out of network.

did you know it was 75k before the surgery? are you saying the hospital fees were 80k in addition to the 75k surgery?

this is unrelated - but were you happy with your surgery?

WOW. those prices are HIGH!!! My bill after everything was $28K + braces, but I only had a lefort 1 done so that may be why. The hospital came out around $10K I believe, so these numbers you all have are HUGE for me. Maybe its a midwest thing

RyanND wrote:WOW. those prices are HIGH!!! My bill after everything was $28K + braces, but I only had a lefort 1 done so that may be why. The hospital came out around $10K I believe, so these numbers you all have are HUGE for me. Maybe its a midwest thing

Those hospital fees are crazy!!! I only have to pay $3000 in fees towards my oral surgeon (and some of that will be covered by my private insurance). The hospital bill/actual surgery is all covered by OHIP but it still wouldn't be more than about $20,000 here in Ontario (at least according to my oral surgeon).

The general rule in the US is that both doctors and hospitals list their charges at 3 to 4 times what the insurance companies' actually pay them. So, I'd guess my hospital and surgeons bill is around $60,000 but they end up getting around $20,000 from my insurance company.

However, if you're uninsured, not only do you have to pay all the charges yourself, but you have to pay the undiscounted charge.

Even by US/West Coast standards, the Gunson charges (for both hospital and surgeon) are extremely high.

Those hospital fees are outrageous...hduggan is correct on how insurance companies work in the US. If you do NOT have insurance, negotiate prices for the hospital up front. You should, at a minimum, be able to get at least 50% off those prices I would think.

As for Gunson/Arnett's fees, personally I find them outrageous as well, but there is no debating they seem to do outstanding work and take a more "aesthetic" approach. If that is important to you by all means try and make it work. If you are more concerned about the bite, then you can find surgeons that are just as qualified for much more respectable fees, and you can probably even find one in your network.

Also, I don't know if it was this message thread or not, but somebody said that they couldn't get insurance to pay assistant surgeon fees. The standard there is that if insurance WILL NOT pay, the provider usually forgives those fees and does not charge the patient. Every place I consulted with had that practice. If Gunson/Arnett demand payment for assistant surgeons as well, I'd have to say they're being a bit greedy.

californiakid- the price was a bit higher than the first estimate because they had to do more movement than they thought they would have to. My first estimate was given over 3 years before my surgery. The second was right before surgery. To answer your second question, yes I couldn't be more pleased with my results. I have a bite that actually works, my TMJs are stable, and I am pleased with the aesthetic outcome. I have a blog that's documented my experience: http://asmileconnectsus.blogspot.com/

[quote="asmileconnectsus"]I had double jaw surgery with Gunson, one night in the hospital. My surgical fees were around $75k because of the extensive bone grafting I had to have done. My hospital fees were around $80k for one night. All my hospital fees were covered by my insurance. About $14k of my surgery was covered. Surgery was over a year ago and I am still fighting for them to pay more. My insurance was out of network.[/quote]

Hi again! So I just found out that I won't be able to pm you until after I've made more posts, so here goes, haha. Are you serious when you say your one night in the hospital cost $80,000?! We were told a ball park amount of $9,600 per day.

[quote="asmileconnectsus"]I had double jaw surgery with Gunson, one night in the hospital. My surgical fees were around $75k because of the extensive bone grafting I had to have done. My hospital fees were around $80k for one night. All my hospital fees were covered by my insurance. About $14k of my surgery was covered. Surgery was over a year ago and I am still fighting for them to pay more. My insurance was out of network.[/quote]


Oh my! $80,000 for one night in the hospital?? Our insurance is denying her coverage. Anyone else had to appeal or fight to get this surgery covered?