He said he applied to have it done on the NHS, but was rejected as it was considered cosmetic. I think you'd only be able to get skin removal on NHS if you had a history of mental health issues or body dysmorphia or something, or it was causing genuine problems like sores. That was when he put the post up about how he'd applied but was rejected and soo defeated...but how he didn't want to crowdfund...then lo and behold someone set the gofundme up for him.
I still think a private surgeon would've done it for free or reduced for the publicity with him having a large amount of followers at the time.