Are Liposuctions About To Get More Expensive?

With the recent economic downturn, people have been being more careful about their spending

. In just about all arenas of life, people are deciding to save, to wait, and to be thrifty.

This increased caution can be seen especially strongly in luxury businesses like cosmetic surgery. While still popular, liposuction (also referred to as lipoplasty and suction lipectomy) has definitely taken a hit because of the recession.

From 2007 to 2008, the number of lipoplasties performed in the United States fell by nearly one hundred thousand procedures, or by almost twenty five percent. Experts suggest that people are waiting to get their lipectomies, and they expect that we will see a large spike in lipoplasty popularity next year or perhaps the year after. They say that these numbers will climb as people undergo the surgeries that they were waiting to get throughout the recession.

However, recent developments suggest that waiting may not be the ideal answer for everybody. The legislature is currently discussing a health care bill which could influence the future of cosmetic surgery in America.

Among its many different clauses, the current health care bill includes a tax on cosmetic surgeries such as liposuction. The bill imposes a 5% levy on all cosmetic procedures.

This, naturally, has a number of cosmetic surgeons up in arms. One doctor reports "This will be devastating to doctors who do cosmetic surgery. You'd be surprised how price sensitive people are to this." Some doctors are calling it "a tax against women and the baby boomer generation having these procedures."

Those who are for the tax have their own reasons: "We pay taxes on virtually ever good and service, and luxury goods and services should be taxed even higher. This is not a medical service... It's something that's nice to have but not necessary."

A 5% increase in the price of a liposuction will probably not be actually prohibitive in most people's experience. If a procedure costs $3000, then the new tax would add an additional cost of $150 on top.

This is certainly no reason for people who don't have the money to run out and get a lipooplasty now, before the price hike. However, people who have the money set aside and are just waiting for the right time may want to at least consider moving toward action.

People should, of course, remember that cosmetic surgeries such as lipoplasty are not something that should be gone into rashly. Your body and your health are worth much more than $150. It is much better to make sure that you really want the surgery and to find an excellent surgeon than to pay less for something that could actually harm you.

by: Christian Heftel

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