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Self pay question



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I have insurance, but it doesnt cover the band. So I am going to be self pay and I have my consultation on January 18th. I am SOOO excited/anxious/nervous but I really don't know what to expect. When you are self pay, what is the "turn around time" from the consult visit to the surgery? What kinds of pre-surgery hoops will I have to jump through? Any info is appreciated!!

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I was self pay and it was less than 4 weeks between my initial visit and surgery. Itdepends on your doctor as to how long it takes. Good luck to you.

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I was self pay .. It was less than 2 months from initial consult to surgery. I had to do a psych eval, meet with nutritionist, get blood work and do a two week liquid diet....

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I was self pay too. I had to do the psych eval and blood work and two week preop diet. I had surgery in 4 weeks from consult. It went very fast it seemed for me.

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Self pay, attended the seminar on 12/19, submitted my paperwork 12/20, approved 12/26 pre-op diet class 12/28, surgery 1/7. I asked them to fast track me if possible, and they did. I am doing 10 days of pre-op diet rather than the traditional 14, but that is apparently within the bounds of normal.

Terry

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My surgery will be a little over two months from my consult, but it could have been faster. We were waiting for my husband's Christmas bonus to come through before we scheduled, to make sure we had the money in hand, and I also wanted to wait until after the holidays since we were traveling with an infant (my husband couldn't have carried everything *and* the baby). :) All the pre-op appointments - psych eval, nutritionist, labs, etc. - were done within a month, and once I called with the money, surgery was scheduled for within two weeks.

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Self pay and 4 weeks from consultation to surgery...although I could have had the surgery earlier...2 weeks instead of 4...I didn't want to rush right in ;)

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I'm in the same boat as you, insurance won't pay and Im tired of waiting around for this so I've decided to self pay. I'm so nervous and anxious but so excited knowing I'm finally getting lapband and getting a new lease on life. Good luck to you!

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I was self pay .. It was less than 2 months from initial consult to surgery. I had to do a psych eval' date=' meet with nutritionist, get blood work and do a two week liquid diet....[/quote']

You have lost over 200 lbs right? I saw that on another thread. That's about how much I want to lose. How many fills have you had?

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I was self pay and so my doctor only required a letter from my doctor saying i was ok to have surgery and a meeting with a nutritionist and then preop bloodwork. I did not have to do the psych eval.

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That's good to know. I am self pay and since I told the dr that I don't have to have the stress test or the upper GI test. Well part of that is because I am not having gastric bypass too though. I am gonna see if I can go without the psych eval.

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Don't self pay for a lap band or you will pay and pay and pay.

Select another surgery.

Do yourself a favor.

Ignore this idiot. This is the 7th thread they've been on (and counting) talking pure BS and spreading flat lies about the band.

Total troll.

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I had my surgery on Thursday so what she says doesn't matter. I paid out of pocket and don't regret it.

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I'm a self pay as well and just had to get medically cleared by the nutritionalist, so a pulmonary test, EKG, get a few talks, made me watch a video on the Internet about the procedure and post-op life, have a sit down and evaluation with the surgeon.

Pretty straightforward since I have diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and hip and knee pain. BMI OF 37 at 277lbs at first appointment.

Started process first week of February and getting banded on March 20th.

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Ignore this idiot. This is the 7th thread they've been on (and counting) talking pure BS and spreading flat lies about the band.

Total troll.

I am over two years in ad haven't paid a cent over my initial cost..Mis is right...complete BS

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    • Aunty Mamo

      Iʻm roughly 6 weeks post-op this morning and have begun to feel like a normal human, with a normal human body again. I started introducing solid foods and pill forms of medications/supplements a couple of weeks ago and it's really amazing to eat meals with my family again, despite the fact that my portions are so much smaller than theirs. 
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    • BeanitoDiego

      Oh yeah, something I wanted to rant about, a billing dispute that cropped up 3 months ago.
      Surgery was in August of 2023. A bill shows up for over $7,000 in January. WTF? I asks myself. I know that I jumped through all of the insurance hoops and verified this and triple checked that, as did the surgeon's office. All was set, and I paid all of the known costs before surgery.
      A looong story short, is that an assistant surgeon that was in the process of accepting money from my insurance company touched me while I was under anesthesia. That is what the bill was for. But hey, guess what? Some federal legislation was enacted last year to help patients out when they cannot consent to being touched by someone out of their insurance network. These types of bills fall under something called, "surprise billing," and you don't have to put up with it.
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      I had to make a lot of phone calls to both the surgeon's office and the insurance company and explain my rights and what the maximum out of pocket costs were that I could be liable for. Also had to remind them that it isn't my place to be taking care of all of this and that I was going to escalate things if they could not play nice with one another.
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    • BeanitoDiego

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    • BeanitoDiego

      Still purging all of the larger clothing. This morning, a shirt that I ADORED wearing ended up on top. Hard to let it go, but it was also hard to let go of those habits that also no longer serve my highest good. Onward and upward!
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