I had my consult with the surgeon this week and it went pretty well. I have to do the 6 month medically supervised diet and fitness plan for my insurance requirement. My surgeons office is charging me $300 for this! Is that normal to have to pay for the medically supervised diet? Couldn't I just do this through my PCP? They are also charging me for nutritional classes, a nutritionist consult and other things they say I need to complete. All together I think its around $550 I'll have to pay out of pocket. I kind of feel like I'm being nickle and dimed but since I've never done this before I was just curious if this normal. Has anyone else experienced this?

I did the diet part through my PCP and my insurance paid for it. I did pay $125 out of pocket for the nutritionist and another $100 for the psych eval.

Thanks! I was pretty sure I could do it under insurance and they were just trying to make it sound like I needed to do it through them. I'll have to check it out more. Good luck with your surgery!!!

Each visit I have to pay my copay which is $50, so after 6 visits that is $300, so yeah, even though I am going through my insurance I still have to pay. The nutritionist was not covered with my insurance, but it is $164, for 3 visits, 2 before surgery and 1 after.

I had my seminar yesterday. And, in my packet it said that if I didn't have any documentation of the six months, I would have to pay 300 dollars for the program the hospital offers. It only listed ONE insurance company that would pay for this. All others would have to pay for it out of pocket.

Some surgeons have a program fee. My first seminar they charged $400 when asked what that covered they said; well this seminar and hand outs (photo copies), and support groups (not lead by med. professionals just people). I said ahhh no to that and found another doctor. If this is a program fee of course insurance is not going to cover it. Why would they cover mark up or pure profit.

Your insurance may not cover certain things though. Mine will cover Nutritionist appointments if they are for health issues other than weight loss (shrug). I called the insurance and said if you are willing to cover the surgery and the doctor insists on the Nut appointments you should cover those as well. I think I won that one since the hospital now says those appointments have been paid for. My appointments with the nurse practioner were covered but I did have some out of pocket expenses.

I did my 6 month diet through my PCP and only had to pay a minimal amount for that after what insurance covered. I did have to pay $75 for an exercise consult and $100 for the nutrition consult. Psych eval was covered by my insurance.

When I started thinking about the surgery I began seeing a therapist (obesity specialist). I wanted to be sure that I was ready to take this step -- and that I was doing this for the right reason. This was eight months before I had my surgery so, when my insurance company asked for a supervised diet I had a food diary that I had been doing for my therapist. My therapy appts were paid for by my insurance with a small $20 co-pay so it all worked out well.

If you have insurance, there is a way that your costs should be minimal.

All the best to you on your journey.

You all are amazing!! Thank you for the great information! The $300 is for the medically supervised diet through the surgeons office. There is a $100 fee for 2 nutrition classes. There is a $180 fee for meeting with their nutritionist. None of this would have been covered by my insurance anyway and like someone else pointed out 6 months of co-pays would be almost $300 if I went through my PCP. I guess I just need to call the sugeons office and find out if I have to pay all this up front or if they will let me do payments at least for the $300.

Thank again for the info! I love these boards...so much great information! :thumbup:

My nutrition wasn't covered by my insurance so i paid out of pocket for it. I just thought of it as the small price to pay for the long-term outcome :thumbup:

I had a friend that went through a PCP, however when she had her last month before surgery with the nutritionist, her PCP hadn't prepped her properly for weight loss surgery! They only had her doing a calorie based diet that didn't focus on carb/fat intake so she's been having a very difficult time with making nutritional changes.

My surgeon--like many others, does have a $300 program fee. It's not specifically for the preop diet--it covers nutrition seminars, use of a hospital gym facility, a BUNCH of educational materials, and a few other things for which they do not receive insurance reimbursement.

The hospital told me $500 for the psyche eval, the nutritionist and the follow up. I did 6 months doctor supervised at $15 a month co-pay. I was denied. So I asked for a refund and was given $250 back. Went to nutritionist for 6 months at $40 a visit and was approved. The hospital wanted me to pay back the $250 for follow up but since I did that through the nutritionist I didn't have to pay anything except the $40 nut visit after surgery. The hospital wanted me to go to their group sessions and the nut. I probably should have since I wasn't very educated and didn't lose for 6 months following surgery.

I did my pre-op diet through my PCP at $30 co-pay, so it added up.

I had to pay out-of-pocket for the initial surgical consult (200), my EKG (65), and the nutritionist/physical therapy seminar (100). The psych they referred me to wasn't in my network so it would have been 300-- so I went to one in my network for my $40 copay instead.

I've put a lot of my own money into this, but it's been gradually over many months so it hasn't felt bad. To do it all at once would have been a little rough!

I have a question about this - if I lose weight during the 6 month medically supervised diet, will my insurance exclude me for not having a high enough BMI?

I apologize in advance if there is a proper place to post this question

I had no program fee, a office co-pay of $20 each time I saw the nutritionist which is 4 times now, & surgeon tomorow is 2nd and last until surgery.. $150 procesing fee for the paperwork for the psych the actual psych eval was covered by ins.

Mine has been a little here and a little there to add up to a LOT. My Dr has a $500 program fee, and I still am not sure what that covers other than the support groups and educational materials. Nutritionist was not covered, so paid 100 for that, and the psych eval was covered but I got charged an additional 100 for that.

The med supervised diet was also NOT covered, which I didn't realize until month 4 when I had no other issues. The 1st 3 appoints (with PCP) I had other questions or problems in addition to the diet stuff. The one time I didn't have anything else, insurance denied it. I made sure to be sick for the next two appointments!! (or asked for RX refills, etc.) Insurance gave no further trouble.