kmn1109

Good to know, thanks!

After wading through insurance crud, I looked into self-paying and doing it thru Blossom Bariatric's Fast Track program in Las Vegas. My cost would be $6300 all-inclusive, including hotel and transport between hotel and facility for the five days. The selling points include convenience as opposed to the options available with my insurance (closest hospital covered by insurance is a 6-hr drive vs. a 90-min flight to LV), no worries about losing weight before the procedure and getting declined (I'm borderline 40BMI), and no 3- or 6-month waiting period. I have three concerns: 1) Post-surgery followup and care. 2) The "safe sleeve" procedure they do... I can find very little information about it. 3) Not being able to meet the surgeon prior to committing to surgery at the facility. So... has anybody out there had the "safe sleeve" procedure through Blossom Bariatrics in Las Vegas?

I'd be interested in hearing your impressions of Valley Care. Since I'm Covered California (Blue Shield CA), they don't accept my insurance, but I may switch during open enrollment, since the closest Covered Calif. facility for me would be in Bakersfield --- 6 hrs away. I did some research and found a lot of good feedback on Dr Mary Estakhri. My first choice is Dr Aileen Murphy at San Ramon Reg. Med center -- I went to one of her WLS seminars and was impressed. The surgery itself will be a million times easier than dealing with the insurance mess.

Blue Shield covers WLS, but if you have Blue Shield CA through Covered California, and you don't live in Southern Calfornia near an approved facility for covered california members, you're out of luck if you want a doctor who is less than six hours away. Did you get BS through Covered California? We may need to bite the bullet and pay the high regular rates to get the NON-covered California Blue Shield coverage which would allow me to go to the doctor I want who is only 20 mins. away.

After having hit a brick wall with Blue Shield (if your Blue Shield coverage is through covered california, you are limited to doctors/facilities in Southern California, and the closest one for me is 6 hrs away), I am considering switching to Kaiser during the upcoming open enrollment. If you've had the procedure approved and you're with Kaiser Northern Calif, would you recommend them? Are their requirements so strict that a lot of people get declined? I had read somewhere that they require that you've been morbidly obese for at least 2 of the last 5 years. Is there somewhere I can find a list of the co-morbidities they consider? I have high cholesterol, fatty liver and stage 4 osteoarthritis and am right at 40 BMI, but they say that they will consider 35-39.9 BMIs if they have serious obesity-related health issues "such as diabetes, coronary heart disease or severe sleep apnea." So I feel like I need to gain a couple of lbs. (which I'm good at) to have a little cushion. I can't get info on the Kaiser website unless I am a member. Bottom line is, I don't want to switch to Kaiser only to discover that something will disqualify me. I see some specialists I'd prefer not to give up, so would hate to be stuck with Kaiser if I can't get approved for the surgery through them (or they don't cover it if you get it through covered california. ) Has anyone here with covered california navigated this maze?

I'm with Blue Shield/Covered California. I was extremely disappointed to learn that my Blue Shield coverage only covers doctors and facilities in a select list, all of which are in Southern California. The closest one to me is 6 hrs away. Even though they have a bunch of bariatric surgery centers listed on their website and the surgeons I tried to schedule appts with are in network, because my plan was through Covered California, I can only go to a doctor who is 6 hrs away. So if you're reading this thread because you have Blue Shield in California through Covered California, you only have the option of one of a dozen centers in Southern California--nothing north of Bakersfield. If you're "regular" Blue Shield, you have more options. If you're regular BS through your employer, you have to be sure that the employer has not excluded WLS from their benefits (some cheapo employers do that to keep rates down).

I'm right at 40 BMI if I don't stand up too straight when they measure height, so like you, I've been concerned about losing on the pre-surgery diet then getting declined. I checked to see how much water weighs, so plan to drink up prior to weigh in, but I love the idea of the fishing weights. too. It may be a moot point if I can't navigate the insurance maze. Very frustrating to do all the research, attend the seminars, make the decision, convince hubby it's a good idea, then learn after making appts that with Covered California Blue Shield, the closest approved hospital/surgeon is 6 hrs away. Good thing open enrollment is coming up.....