I plan to have lap band surgery soon. i believe my insurance will completely cover it as I have all the requirements and then some. Just curious should I ask my insurance to recommend a doctor or just go to any seminar near me? what was the average outof pocket costs for the surgery? not after care,just like what amount after insurance pays their share? thanks

I also wanted to add that I meet the requirements my insurance has for automatically qualifying for it.

Ask around about surgeons in your area. attend seminars to meet the surgeons. Look online and do the research, just don't pick anyone, ask around.

as for the insurance. everyone's is different. i am fortunate my insurance pays for it 100%, i only had to pay $150 to my surgeon for my consultation fee. that is it.

ask your insurance how much they pay, is it 100 % or 80 %. if you pay cash, mine would have been $16,000 and they actually do financing there too.

hope it all works out for you

Ask around about surgeons in your area. attend seminars to meet the surgeons. Look online and do the research, just don't pick anyone, ask around.

as for the insurance. everyone's is different. i am fortunate my insurance pays for it 100%, i only had to pay $150 to my surgeon for my consultation fee. that is it.

ask your insurance how much they pay, is it 100 % or 80 %. if you pay cash, mine would have been $16,000 and they actually do financing there too.

hope it all works out for you

Hi thanks for responding. i did find out that the insurance requires that the surgery be done at a place that has the title center of Excellance. several surgeons dont have that. I know of seminars but i did not want to waste much time. Do you think it would be smarter just to get some doctors names that the insurance company recommendds? I noticed last night under my insurance that I can skip the prequalify process as I have mnay of the things needed already.

I have no deductible to meet. it says that you pay the 80/20 thing and the most i would pay would pay out of pocket ever is 3,000. i have that saved up..

mainly i just was thinking instead of going to all these seminars i should go to the right one in the first place. what do u think?

also i am a little freaked out by hearing about tummy tucks and extra skin being removed from arms. these are all cosmetic and insurance does not pay that. am i going to look ok? i just want to weigh half of what i weigh.

I plan to have lap band surgery soon. i believe my insurance will completely cover it as I have all the requirements and then some. Just curious should I ask my insurance to recommend a doctor or just go to any seminar near me? what was the average outof pocket costs for the surgery? not after care,just like what amount after insurance pays their share? thanks

I also wanted to add that I meet the requirements my insurance has for automatically qualifying for it.

Our family dr. recommended our surgeon.

We each had an appt. with the surgeon and a did a endoscope to make sure we could move forward.

Hoping to have surgery dates in Nov. for me and my Hubby in Dec.

Talk to friends and check out several surgeons until yo find the one who is right for you.

Good luck.

My insurance company recommended my doctor because it had to be a Center of Excellence. I had to pay $5. I got a bill in the mail for $5 from the hospital and I am fine with that because when I added up all of my explanation of benefits, it was well over $28,000. I only went to one seminar and that was for the surgeon that completed my gastric banding. As far as the tummy tuck, I can not answer that. I am only 3 months out!

My insurance company recommended my doctor because it had to be a Center of Excellence. I had to pay $5. I got a bill in the mail for $5 from the hospital and I am fine with that because when I added up all of my explanation of benefits, it was well over $28,000. I only went to one seminar and that was for the surgeon that completed my gastric banding. As far as the tummy tuck, I can not answer that. I am only 3 months out!

Thats what I thought. you have the same thing as me. It requires that Excellance center. so i will go ahead and just get a doctor referral. i doubt i will have to do any 6 month things or have a wait. i think if a company requires a certain hospital to go to than they should provide the doctors who go there. 28,000 seems very high to me. also I wonder if the insurance will pay more of it if you are critically obese co0mpared to someone who is not.

I plan to have lap band surgery soon. i believe my insurance will completely cover it as I have all the requirements and then some. Just curious should I ask my insurance to recommend a doctor or just go to any seminar near me? what was the average outof pocket costs for the surgery? not after care,just like what amount after insurance pays their share? thanks

I also wanted to add that I meet the requirements my insurance has for automatically qualifying for it.

Find out if there is a Center of Excellence near you. You won't find better service or more highly trained surgeons. Search around and

see other people's opinions of CoEs.

Once you find a Center of Excellence near you, give them a call and find out what their requirements are. My surgeon is also at a Center of Excellence but they wouldn't even let me schedule an appointment for the initial consultation until I had attended their seminar. After attending the seminar, I called and made my appointment and provided them with my insurance info. As part of my initial consultation, one of the people I met with was the insurance coordinator who had already contacted my insurance and was able to walk me through all of the things I needed to do (psych eval, tests, recommendation from my PCP, etc) in order to get their approval - she even gave me a checklist which made it so easy to get everything done. Even if you meet your insurance requirements (I did too) there are still necessary steps you will have to take in order to get their official approval and your surgeon's office should be able to help you with that.

Please don't be fooled into thinking that a 'Center of Excellence' will insure that you have a good doctor. CoE is a 'management' and 'business' designation NOT a medical one. Find out the name of your doctor and RESEARCH HIM. I personally worked at Kaiser Richmond for five years. Bad doctors float right along, no one calls them on their incompetence. If a patient sues and wins then those records are sealed by a non-disclosure clause - so you NEVER KNOW ABOUT IT. CoE is a measurement of business efficiency so insurance companies can feel assured that their money is well spent. It is NOT a measurement of quality medical care - or quality doctors.

Wow, SM you're going to make medical history. You had the sleeve in Mexico in Aug., now

your having the band. I didn't know that was possible!

A center of excellence is MUCH more than a business designation. The before and after care from them is far beyond what is offered at some places. My COE doctor was fantastic and so is all his office and the by extension the hospital to which he is attached. I could not ask for more information, better care or a more professional, experienced doctor than I got by going to my COE. Good luck to you.