A major contributing factor to the rise in the number of cosmetic procedures, particularly those involving surgery, is financing. While once a non-existant or negligible part of most plastic surgeon’s practices a mere decade ago, it is now a significant and important component of patient conversion today. Like many other luxury services, the ability to finance the purchase is often the determining factor of whether that procedure is done in the near future.
While there are numerous companies, both nationally and locally, that provide cosmetic procedure financing, one of the most well known is that of Care Credit. It is the sole financing company that I use in my practice because of their ease of customer use online and the credibility and reliability of the company. In addition, they are endorsed by the American Society of Plastic Surgery as their health-care credit card company. I had no idea, however, that Care Credit has been in business for over two decades until their most recent announcement.
Care Credit is celebrating its 25th year in business of financing plastic surgery and other medical and dental procedures, having served over 20 million patients. As an appreciation, it has announced its ’25 Years of Caring Sweepstakes’ with a grand prize of $25,000 and 25 other prizes of $1,000 each. This sweepstakes exists for Care Credit cardholders and is time-limited, running from April 15th to May 31st. Existing patients with good-standing with Care Credit receive an automatic sweepstakes entry and those who use their card at any medical practice during this time period will receive an additional entry.
The consideration of having a plastic surgery procedure financed is a personal one and should be evaluated carefully. When looking at the cost of surgery, and how much money to borrow, be aware of the total cost of the procedure. Often a listed fee by a practice may be just the surgeon’s fee and not the total cost of surgery. Most cosmetic surgery procedures have four different variable costs. These include the surgeon’s fee, operating room time, anesthesiologist charge and the cost of any implants or devices used during the surgery. (e.g., breast implants, chin implants etc) Make sure that you know the total cost of your desired procedure(s) before applying for financing.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana