I was banded in Mexico 5 weeks ago (my insurance wouldn't cover it) and so I never had to go through a psychological evaluation. But I'm wondering if those who are self-pay for bands in the US need a psyc-eval. I'm a licensed psychologist and would love to do some of these evaluations but I'm not on any insurance panels (don't want to bother with all the paperwork and billing) and so all my work is self-pay and insurance companies might not refer to me. Any ideas? I'm going to ask my follow-up surgeon on Thursday.

I think it depends on the doctor and the hospital...but I know at Columbia Presbyterian, it's non-negotiable. No matter how it's paid for, the psych eval was part of the process.

Even though my insurance fully covered my surgery, I still had to pay the psych eval out of pocket. I guess I could've tried to find one in my network, but I decided to just go through the list that my doctor gave. I tried calling a few to see if they took insurance but most didn't, so I just picked the one closest to me and paid the $150. You might just talk to the local programs and see if they could include you in the list that they give people.

I'm having mine done in IL and it's required. However my own PCP was able to do it.