Will Insurance Cover the Cost of Rhinoplasty Surgery?

February 10, 2014 / Blog, Rhinoplasty

The decision to receive rhinoplasty is one patients typically spend a great deal of time contemplating. After all, there are many questions that need to be answered before committing to surgery. Phrased in some form or another, I’d say three questions I hear the most regarding rhinoplasty include: “Will my insurance cover the cost?”; “Are my expectations realistic?”; and “What will recovery be like?”

Since these questions seem to be so common among prospective rhinoplasty patients (as they should be), I thought I’d touch on each one throughout a series of three blog posts, beginning with insurance.

Will Insurance Cover the Cost of Rhinoplasty?

Let me first preface my answer by noting that all insurance companies and insurance plans can vary, and the information I’m providing is more of a generality based on my dealings with insurance companies through the years. That being said, insurance coverage for rhinoplasty will often depend on your reason for receiving surgery. In short, are you receiving rhinoplasty for cosmetic purposes or reconstructive purposes?

Cosmetic concerns can include a displeasure with the size and/or shape of your nose, a bump on your nose that you want removed, or perhaps the fact that the tip of your nose hangs down a bit further than you’d like. While all of these concerns are perfectly acceptable reasons to receive rhinoplasty surgery, they generally will not be covered by insurance do to their cosmetic classification.

On the contrary, issues such as broken noses and/or deviated septums generally are covered by most insurance plans due to their reconstructive classification. Why? Because a bone fracture or deviated septum can potentially block nasal airways and cause breathing issues, therefore resulting in a health concern.

So what happens if you have a reconstructive concern, but you also have a few cosmetic issues you’d like to address as well? You may be in luck. Some insurance plans offer partial coverage, which, in this instance, may cover the treatment on the inside of your nose (the reconstructive aspect of the surgery). Should this be the case, you may only be required to pay a cosmetic fee for the work done on the outside of the nose.

Stay Tuned

Be sure to stay tuned for my next blog post in which I will answer the next question, “Are my expectations realistic for rhinoplasty surgery?”