Uninsured (public) patients

Mr Freedman is able and willing to see uninsured patients in our private clinics for an opinion and management advice.

Many orthopaedic problems do not require surgery and can be managed with conservative (non-operative) treatments.

For uninsured patients who DO need surgery, Mr Freedman will generally encourage patients to obtain private health insurance and to get surgery when that insurance is available.  Alternatively Mr Freedman will provide guidance as to the most appropriate colleague at a local public hospital.

Mr Freedman generally does not encourage patients to self fund surgery. While this may be possible on select cases, self funding surgery can be enormously expensive. It is also considerably more stressful for both patient and surgeon as the self-funding fee would not cover the patient in the event of any surgery complications.  Complications can add enormous cost to an already expensive undertaking.

In most cases it will be advised to take out private health insurance, to seek good medical management/physiotherapy, for pain management and to get surgery once insured.  You CAN get insurance for pre existing medical conditions. There may just be a 12 month waiting clause on the insurance policy.