Costs

Dr Moncrieff’s consultation fee for a 30 minute cosmetic surgery appointment is $350. This fee is subject to a Medicare rebate of just over $80 if you have a doctor’s referral.

For women considering breast surgery, we ask that you book a $100 Vectra breast surgery simulation with our Practice Manager first. The cost is rebated against your consultation with Dr Moncrieff if it is booked within 12 months. More information about this service, and to book online, please visit our Vectra page. 

Unfortunately we are unable to “bulk bill” or “no gap” for most services. There are frequent gaps between the surgeon’s fees and the amount you can receive back as a rebate from Medicare and your health fund. This is because these rebates have continued to lag well behind inflation and do not reflect the true cost of providing health care.

Hunter Plastic Surgery will provide a fee estimate for surgery and we ask that you to check with your health fund to determine your specific rebate entitlement. We also invite you to discuss fees with our administration team.

Yes, we offer payment plans for breast augmentation, breast reduction, tummy tucks and other plastic surgery we offer in Newcastle. For patients booking surgery up to 6 months in advance, we are happy to accept regular payments up until 1 month before the surgery is scheduled when the final payment is due. This is of course interest-free and means you don’t have the worry of paying for your procedure after you have had it. We just ask that if your payments are made via direct deposit that they always include your surname for tracking.

We accept Visa, Mastercard, TLC (Total Lifestyle Credit) or Medipay loans, and direct deposit.

We are not affiliated or endorse any particular financing company.

Other patients in the past have approached their existing banks for redraws, personal loans or used a low-interest credit card to help assist funding their procedure.

Others have been able to access their superannuation.

More information about payment options is in our dedicated article here.

Once your procedure has been completed, you can take your receipt to Medicare if it has a Medicare item number (generally for breast reduction, abdominoplasty, weight loss skin removal and a number of other plastic surgery procedures). Purely cosmetic procedures (such a anti-wrinkle treatments or breast augmentations) do not attract a Medicare rebate.

Once Medicare has assessed your claim, you can take your documentation to your health fund. Generally, health funds won’t pay a rebate on items not subject to a Medicare rebate and they will refuse all claims were the primary purpose of the surgery was cosmetic.

Price ranges for many of the most common procedures are available on this site under the Procedures tab on the menu (see the information on the particular operation you are interested in).

For a full personalised quote you should book a consultation as every patient has different needs and it is always best to discuss procedures being considered directly with your surgeon. We often find that patients who come in looking for a particular procedure could actually get the results they are looking for with an alternative treatment which costs substantially less, making the cost of the consultation well worth it.

Our fees are very competitive but should just be one element of your decision making process – the surgeon’s qualifications, experience and your comfort with him are just as important as the cost of the surgery.

Remember that different providers have different qualifications. Only accredited Plastic Surgeons like Dr Moncrieff have completed the extended surgical training and have passed the rigorous examinations required to obtain that title (for more information please go to the ‘General Questions’ section).

With all surgical procedures there are three main types of costs that need to be considered. These are the surgical fee, the anaesthetic fee and the hospital fee.

The anaesthetic fee is time dependent, while the hospital fee may vary depending on which hospital you choose to have your surgery performed at. Your private health fund may cover some of these elements which can significantly reduce the overall costs. We will prepare a detailed invoice which will explain and itemise all the costs that are associated with your procedure.

More details of the booking process, fees and cancellations are outlined in your written quote. As a general guide, to book surgery, a booking fee of 20% of the surgical fee due when you book in your procedure which becomes non-refundable after a 7 day cooling off period. This is required to secure a date for your operation in hospital and ensures the surgeon, theatre, hospital team and anaesthetist are booked exclusively for you.

Note that all surgery must be paid in full a month prior to the scheduled procedure. If payment is not received by the due date, the operation will be cancelled.

The level of coverage varies on the type of procedure, level of cover you have, your waiting periods and the exclusions of your health fund.

We ask that patients to contact their health insurer once they have a quote from us which itemises the elements of their proposed procedure to see what cover they have. Due to privacy laws, Hunter Plastic Surgery can not make these enquiries on your behalf so any estimate of health fund rebates we provide are indicative only and must be confirmed by the patient before the procedure to avoid potentially significant unexpected costs.

We have found patients are increasingly disappointed by the rebates offered by their health funds. For information about choosing an alternative fund, click here.

Superannuation release on compassionate grounds is possible, but also challenging. It is only available in cases of chronic or acute pain and generally is only granted for patients seeking surgery such as breast reductions or abdominoplasty where the patient is suffering ongoing pain. Find out more in this article. Please note that we can not complete this form for you – you need to start the process and have your GP provide a report. For those committed to surgery, we will then complete our section of the paperwork for a $200 administration fee (rebateable against the surgical fees).

Given the high demand for consultations, we ask that patients give us at least 2 full working days notice (by phone - 4920 7700) if they are not going to be able to attend at their scheduled time to allow us to contact people on our wait-list to reallocate the time.

If appointments are cancelled or rescheduled by the patient with less than 2 full working days notice they will attract a charge of the full consultation fee. This will result in the forfeiture of your deposit. If you subsequently book another appointment, the normal consultation fee will apply. 

Appointments can only be rescheduled once, or the initial fee is lost and the full consultation fee will be payable again.  

Please do not attend if you are unwell.

Our cancellation of surgery policy is outlined on the written quote you will receive after your consultation.