Bariatric Surgery Payment Options & Discounts

Practical Guide · Updated 2026

Every published price on this site already reflects our cash-pay discount — but if you’ve ever wondered exactly how that discount works, what other payment methods we accept, and how to use financing or claim the surgery against tax later, this is the only page you’ll need.

By the ALO Bariatrics patient coordination team · Tijuana · Guadalajara · Puerto Vallarta

When you see a price on a page like gastric sleeve from $4,500 or gastric bypass, that “from” figure is not a teaser — it’s the real number you’ll pay if you bring U.S. cash on the day of surgery. Every published procedure price on alobariatrics.com already includes a $200 cash-pay discount. We made that decision years ago because most of our international patients prefer to pay in cash on arrival, and we wanted the prices on our website to match the prices they actually pay at our hospital — not be reverse-engineered after fees.

This guide walks through every payment route we accept, what each one actually costs in 2026, and how to claim the surgery against tax or insurance after you fly home. If something here doesn’t match the quote your coordinator gave you, the written quote always wins — but the framework below is how the math is built on our side.

How the $200 cash discount works

Our pricing has two tiers — but only one is published.

The cash-pay tier is what you see on every procedure page. It applies only when the surgery is paid in U.S. dollar cash, handed to your coordinator at the hospital on the day of admission. Because we don’t pay merchant-processing fees, wire fees, or platform fees on a cash payment, we pass those savings back to you: $200 off the gross price.

The everything-else tier is $200 above whatever the website lists. This applies to wire transfers, Zelle, credit and debit cards, cashier’s checks, and any financing partner that pays us on your behalf. Each of those methods carries either a processing fee, a bank fee or a platform fee on our end, and rather than hide them in a marked-up base price we charge them transparently.

Every payment method we accept (and what it actually costs)

Method	Final Price (vs. “from”)	When It Works Best
U.S. cash (USD)	Website “from” price	Most patients flying in — the simplest, cleanest path and the only method that earns the $200 discount.
Bank wire transfer (USD)	“From” + $200	If you’d rather not travel with cash. Wire 3 business days before surgery.
Zelle	“From” + $200	U.S. patients whose bank supports Zelle limits high enough to cover the procedure.
Credit / debit card	“From” + $200	You want airline miles, a 0% APR intro period, or international fraud protection.
Cashier’s check (U.S. banks only)	“From” + $200	U.S. patients who want a guaranteed-funds paper instrument. We do not accept cashier’s checks issued outside the U.S.
Financing (eFinancing Solutions, Medical Loan Finance, Medicard)	Depends on approved APR	You want to spread the cost over 12–84 months instead of paying upfront.
Insurance reimbursement	Pay first, claim later	If your policy has out-of-network or international coverage.

If you mix two methods — say, half cash and half card — we apply the discount only to the cash portion. Your coordinator will spell out the split in writing before surgery, so there are no surprises at the discharge desk.

What we don’t accept: personal checks, money orders, cashier’s checks issued by non-U.S. banks, cryptocurrency, or third-party Venmo / Cash App transfers.

Cash on arrival — the simple path

About 60% of our international patients pay cash on arrival, and the workflow is friendlier than it sounds:

• You bring the cash in USD (not pesos). U.S. customs lets you carry up to $10,000 per person without a declaration; couples can split. Most patients bring it in their carry-on, never the checked bag.
• Our driver collects you at San Diego, Guadalajara or Puerto Vallarta airport on the day you arrive. The standard package takes you straight to your hotel for the first night — not the hospital — so you can rest, settle in, and meet your coordinator without rushing into admission.
• The next morning the driver takes you from the hotel to the hospital. You’ll have already been in touch with your coordinator by phone, email, or WhatsApp for weeks at that point — payment is handed to that same coordinator in person at admissions.
• You get a counted, signed receipt in your name before any surgical prep begins. Surgery follows the same day.

If your package is structured differently (some patients prefer to go directly to the hospital, or to extend their hotel stay before surgery), the airport-to-hotel-to-hospital sequence still applies — your coordinator will confirm the exact timing once your case is locked in.

Wire transfer — when you’d rather not fly with cash

A USD wire is the most common alternative to cash for international patients. The mechanics:

• Once your surgery date is confirmed, your coordinator sends you the SWIFT code, ABA number, recipient name, and reference line.
• You initiate the wire at your bank at least 3 business days before surgery. International wires can take 1–2 days to clear; we want a buffer.
• The final price on a wire is the website “from” price + $200, to cover the wire-receipt fee on our end.
• Once funds clear, we email confirmation and your case is locked in.

Credit and debit cards — when the +$200 still makes sense

Paying by card isn’t more expensive in spirit — it just shifts the merchant fee back to the patient instead of being absorbed by the hospital. A few situations make the trade-off worthwhile:

• Sign-up bonuses. A new travel card offering 80,000–100,000 miles for hitting a $5,000 spend will often pay back the $200 in points value alone.
• 0% intro APR. If your card gives you 12–21 months at 0%, you’re effectively getting an interest-free loan on the procedure.
• Fraud protection. U.S. credit card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Amex) give you international chargeback rights that cash and wire don’t.
• Card cashback or category bonuses. 1.5–2% back on a $5,000 charge can offset most of the $200 fee.

We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. We do not store card numbers.

Financing — for patients spreading the cost over months

If you’d rather pay a fixed amount each month instead of writing a single check, we work with three medical financing partners that pre-approve U.S. and Canadian residents quickly:

• eFinancing Solutions — U.S. patients. Pre-approval is a soft credit pull, and approved terms typically range from 12 to 84 months with rates set by your credit profile.
• Medical Loan Finance — U.S. patients. Funds are wired directly to ALO once approved, so there’s no card-handling on your side.
• Medicard — Canadian patients. Canada’s largest patient-financing network for elective procedures; terms typically run 12–60 months.

If your monthly payment math is more important than the cash discount, financing usually wins. A full breakdown of each partner, sample monthly payments, and how to apply lives on our dedicated financing options page.

Tax-deductible spending & insurance reimbursement

Bariatric surgery — including the airfare, the hotel for medically required recovery, and the transportation to the hospital — is treated as a qualified medical expense in both the U.S. and Canada when performed by a licensed surgeon. That opens up three meaningful paths:

U.S. federal tax deduction

U.S. patients can deduct unreimbursed medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income. For someone with a $60,000 AGI, anything over $4,500 in medical spending in a calendar year is deductible — and a sleeve or bypass procedure alone usually clears that floor. We explain the full mechanics on our tax-deduction page.

Canadian Medical Expense Tax Credit

The Canada Revenue Agency treats medically necessary surgery abroad as an eligible Medical Expense Tax Credit if local wait times or unavailability justify it. We document the full process and form numbers on the Canadian tax credit page.

Insurance reimbursement (out-of-network)

If your U.S. or Canadian insurance has out-of-network or international coverage — particularly Cigna Global, Aetna International, BCBS Federal, or Canadian extended-health plans — you may be able to recover 40–80% of the cost after the fact. The mechanics are simple but slow:

1. You pay us in full at one of the tiers above.
2. We provide a written invoice with the procedure description, hospital name, and surgeon details.
3. You submit the invoice as an out-of-network claim to your carrier once you’re home.
4. Reimbursement lands 30–90 days later, depending on the carrier.

We don’t bill insurance directly — that path doesn’t exist for U.S. or Canadian plans treating in Mexico. What we provide is the documentation those carriers actually need from you.

How to lock in your final price

The cleanest way to know your exact final price — including any add-ons like nutritionist consults, hotel extensions, hernia repair if found during surgery, or a companion staying with you — is a short call with one of our coordinators. We send a written quote within an hour of that call. The quote lists the cash price, the +$200 price, and the financing monthly payment side by side. Nothing is hidden.

Frequently asked questions

One last thing

The reason this page exists isn’t to sell you a $200 promotion. It’s to make sure that by the time you board the plane, there is exactly one number in your head: the amount you owe us on the day of surgery. No fees stacked on top, no service charges in fine print, no “we forgot to mention” line items at discharge. If anything on this page doesn’t match the written quote your coordinator sends you, the written quote always wins. That’s the simplest promise we can make.