These numbers come from the published medical research listed below. "What your conditions cost you" means your typical yearly out-of-pocket costs — copays, medications, supplies. "Total cost of care" adds in what insurance also covers. To estimate savings, we take the share of patients whose condition improves or fully resolves after surgery and multiply that by what the condition costs in a year. The monthly figure is just that yearly number split evenly across 12 months. One important caveat: how many patients improve depends heavily on how long after surgery you measure it — most conditions look better at 1–2 years than they do at 5+ years in the published research, and some patients relapse over time. The percentages below are reasonable middle-of-the-road estimates, not a guarantee for any specific timeframe.
- Type 2 Diabetes (OOP $3,500 | Total $12,000): GoodRx Health. The True Cost of Diabetes. 2023 (average patient OOP spend: $3,300–$4,600/yr). American Diabetes Association. Economic Costs of Diabetes in the U.S. in 2022. Diabetes Care, 2024 (average annual expenditure attributable to diabetes: $12,022).
- Hypertension (OOP $800 | Total $2,000): Kirkland EB et al. Trends in Healthcare Expenditures Among US Adults With Hypertension: National Estimates, 2003–2014. Journal of the American Heart Association, 2018 (adjusted annual spending ~$1,920 higher for hypertensive patients; OOP figure is a separate composite estimate for medications and monitoring visits, not a single dedicated study).
- Sleep Apnea (OOP $900 | Total $3,500): American Academy of Sleep Medicine analysis, cited in WebMD Health, The Cost of Sleep Apnea, 2025 (average patient spend ~$2,105/yr on testing, appointments, and treatment devices).
- GERD (OOP $600 | Total $3,000): Maret-Ouda J et al. Healthcare Resource Utilization and Costs Among Patients With GERD. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 2023. Resolution rate (85%): Nelson LG, Gonzalez R, Haines K, Gallagher SF, Murr MM. Amelioration of gastroesophageal reflux symptoms following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for clinically significant obesity. The American Surgeon, 2005;71(11):950–953 (606 patients; 89% improved at 3 months, 94% at 9 months). This figure reflects gastric bypass outcomes specifically, since that's the procedure typically used for patients with significant reflux.
- High Cholesterol (OOP $400 | Total $1,500): Ganguli I et al. Complication-specific direct medical costs by BMI. Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy, 2020.
- Joint Pain / Arthritis (OOP $1,100 | Total $4,400): Kotlarz H et al. Osteoarthritis and absenteeism costs: evidence from US National Survey Data. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 2009 (average OOP: $1,379 women / $694 men; average total insurer + OOP: $4,833 women / $4,036 men). "Resolution" for this condition means significant, published symptom improvement — osteoarthritis is a structural joint condition and surgery does not reverse it.
- PCOS (OOP $500 | Total $950): Unlike the other conditions above, no single study states a clean per-patient annual figure for PCOS, so these are our own estimate, shown transparently: Riestenberg CK, Jagasia A, Markovic D, Buyalos RP, Azziz R. Health care-related economic burden of polycystic ovary syndrome in the United States: pregnancy-related and long-term health consequences. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2022;107:575–585 reports the national annual cost of PCOS-specific care (evaluation, menstrual dysfunction treatment, infertility care, hirsutism — excluding downstream comorbidities like diabetes and depression, which are already counted separately above) at roughly $4.63 billion (2021 USD). Divided across an estimated 5 million affected US women, that's about $926/patient/year, split here by typical insurance coverage patterns. Resolution rate (75%): Zhao Y, Xiong S, Liu T, et al. Total weight loss rather than preoperative body mass index correlates with remission of irregular menstruation after sleeve gastrectomy in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2024;15:1355703 (229 patients, sleeve gastrectomy specifically, 79.03% remission of irregular menstruation at 1 year).
- Depression / Anxiety (OOP $900 | Total $2,500): Cost estimate; see the notice on the results screen when this condition is selected for important context on how mixed the outcomes evidence is for this condition specifically.
- Surgical resolution/improvement rates (Diabetes, Hypertension, Cholesterol): Vest AR, Heneghan HM, Agarwal S, Schauer PR, Young JB. Bariatric surgery and cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review. Heart, 2012;98:1763–1777 (52 studies, 16,867 patients: 75% diabetes resolution, 68% hypertension resolution, 71% dyslipidemia resolution, following 3–155 months of follow-up). Individual rates vary significantly by how long after surgery they're measured — earlier follow-up shows higher resolution than longer-term follow-up in most published studies.
This tool is for general information only — it's not medical or financial advice. Your own results depend on which procedure you have, your insurance, and your health. Talk to a bariatric surgeon about what to expect in your specific case.
