Has anyone out there gotten Tricare (the military insurance) to pay for Lap Banding? Any info you have is greatly appreciated! Thanks,

Pattie

Tricare does cover it. Try calling Walter Reed, Dr Long's office maybe they can tell you more? Keep checking, don't give up like a lot of us did...we were out of pocket, when we didn't have to be.

Tricare does cover it. Try calling Walter Reed, Dr Long's office maybe they can tell you more? Keep checking, don't give up like a lot of us did...we were out of pocket, when we didn't have to be.

Tricare does cover it. Try calling Walter Reed, Dr Long's office maybe they can tell you more? Keep checking, don't give up like a lot of us did...we were out of pocket, when we didn't have to be.

i tried to get into walter Reed. I'm not in their region, and they are getting so busy doing the band, that they wouldnt' except me. Stating that they have to take care of their region people first. I was fully prepared to pay for travel there for however long it took. The way I looked at it, I could either spend 11,000 on the surgery and not have it covered, or I could spend 6,000 on travel for the next year and have it covered. To bad for me, just 2 months before finding out about them doing it:cry at walter reed, i had been living in there region!!!!

they are supposedly doing it, too. Call WRAMC to confirm what other hosp is doing it.

They both paid their share of hospital bill. I live in Minnesota.

They paid a vastly smaller amount than they were charged but it says I owe nothing so far.

do you mean Wilford Hall in San Antonio?

I was aware that Wilford Hall Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas is trying to get it's Lap Band program underway this year, but I didn't know there were already two Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) currently performing Lap Banding. Which two MTFs are you referring to?:eek:

I am a military dependent of an active duty AF husband. Tricare will pay for the lapband. I t took awhile and some work but I will be having Pro-op on June 7th and surgery about a week later. My doc worked really hard and used some top people to get this approved, but it finally worked out. I think some of what helped also is that medicare has approved the lap band and Tricare has now jumped on the bandwagon too. I am TRICARE PRIME and am disabled so I also have Medicare part A, when you have part A you also automaticaaly have Tricare for Life also. But it was approved under Tricare Prime.

I am a 35yo woman who weighs 300lbs and I have Diabetes, sleep apnea, hypertension, joint issues, mild depression, I think I could go on forever sometimes with all my issues.

All I can say is get a good PCM that will work hard for you and if you haven't yet show ways of trying to lose weight. I went to Clinical Health Psychology for help in losing weight, Obesity clinic with endocronology, diabetes clinic for help with my diet SHOW ways you are trying to lose weight and that they are not working ie medically supervised and that will help tremendously.

Good Luck and keep working for your goal. LEah

Almost forgot, I live 20 min from Wilford Hall and I am having surgery off base at SW Medical.

Well, so far, from everything I've heard, Tricare for life is on board, but not Prime or Standard.

DivaMom,

When you say your lap-band surgery is being done by SW Medical, are you talking about Southwest Bariatrics in Austin? If so, who is your surgeon?

SW General Hospital in San Antonio and my doc is Dr. Rajajoshiwala

Divamom,

I need your help. I was told today that Tricare is approving Lap-Banding on a case-by-case basis. You mentioned in a previous post that your PCM is located at Wilford Hall. What I would like to do is have my PCM at Randolph contact your PCM to find out how to get Tricare to approve the Lapband for me. Would you mind providing me the name of your PCM at Wilford Hall who was able to get the lap-band approved for you?

Hello,

I am tricare standard. I just had the surgery on May 6th. What was your part of the deductible that you had to pay out of pocket? I have not recieved any bills yet. Just really nervous that I am going to be hit with a very high bill. Thanks.

Tricare Prime does cover Lap Band if you are 100 lbs overweight and have a comibidity or I think it is 200 percent over ideal weight. I received a referral to a surgeon last week just waiting for the appointment. Approval for the band is fairly new but if you search the Insurance forum for "tricare" you will find several who have been approved and a lot of suggestions how to get approved

I had my lapband surgery Feb 23, 2005. At that time, neither Medicare or Tricare would preapprove so I had the surgery and promised to pay if they did not pay. It was a gamble at the time. (But in the end I did not pay a penny.)

Recently, we saw one of the nurses that head up the program and she said both Medicare and Tricare are on board with paying for surgery. What criteria they use I don't know but I think if you have two comorbidities and are around 35 BMI +... you are very likely to be covered. I started out at about 211 pounds and 5' 2". Now I am down to 134. I am scheduled for panniculectomy June 26th, 2008. Again, I don't know if either will pay but it is going to be done and hope they do pay. My surgery involves no muscle tightening. Just remove excess skin. No Liposuction. It will cost about $5500 total here in Minnesota. Hope this information helps someone out there.

Sandy