Thurgoona retiree Anton Moser recovering grandly from knee replacement

The retiree who lives in Thurgoona faced agonising pain, sleepless nights and the frustrating quandary of how to pay for a joint operation as his condition worsened.

His luck changed in July when his insurer's "no gap" joint replacement program was launched at Albury's Insight Private Hospital.

Mr Moser, 75, said he had nothing but praise for staff at the hospital after his knee replacement operation and was now happily spending his time strolling beside the Murray every day at Albury's Noreuil Park.

"I lived on the Gold Coast for a while working as a security officer but was so glad to move down here to retire," he said.

"I did many things before the security work, I was a panel beater when I was a young fellow, but getting away from the big smoke to live in a place like this has been wonderful.

"If I had to have this operation when I was on the Gold Coast it would have cost me a lot of money up there because they (the insurer) didn't have that system then."

Mr Moser said his knee condition was not the result of an injury.

"It's just old age," he said. "It started about maybe eight years ago when I was on the coast.

"I started getting severe pain in that knee so I went to a specialist there and then he said, 'we can't operate now, it's too early, once you can't sleep at night anymore you can come back'.

"Then I moved down here and then just pain started getting really bad, I couldn't sleep anymore, it could have something to do with the cold weather.

"So I went to see the specialist and he said we have to operate, it's really bad now, he told me all about what they're going to do, what they're gonna implant here, the metal piece here.

"So there are two bits of plastic and a metal piece in between it. They never gave me a quote because they said, look, you have insurance and you're covered with a no gap policy which was something new here in Albury.

"I was lucky because the new system came in just before my operation on July 4 so I was one of the first ones here in Albury."

Medibank chief customer officer Milosh Milisavljevic said the program was designed to eliminate out-of-pocket medical costs associated with hip or knee replacement operations.

"We know that every dollar counts at the moment," he said. "The no gap joint replacement program has saved our customers an average of $1500 in out-of-pocket costs, which is a big saving at a time when household budgets are under pressure."

Insight Private Hospital Orthopaedic Surgeon George Gayagay said: "It's fantastic that Insight hospital in Albury is one of very few regional cities in Australia that offer this model of care. What major cities in Australia and the world can do, we too can do.

"The no gap program benefits both patient and surgeon. It lets the patient focus on their post-surgery recovery, with rehab done in the comfort of their own homes, without having to worry about any surprise costs afterwards."

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