Hello bandlarians,

I spoke with the person who schedules fills and she told me my insurance won't pay for it for until 90 days after surgery! Yikes!!

I was banded March 13th, I have little restriction and barely hanging onto what I have lost so far.. I am up a little and struggling to not gain.

:help:

Can you cover it yourself? My fills are $100. I couldn't do my fills as quickly as I wanted to since I am temporarily living away from home, and it was so depressing. I was desperate and convinced that I would never lose weight. Anyway, just a thought.

That would have been my first suggestion - self pay. No idea what your surgeon charges, mine charges about $150, from what I've been told.

I've heard of insurance companies putting a time limit on covered fills, as in the duration, but not a starting time. That's so odd, and makes no sense. "We'll pay for the band, but not to get it up & running!"

I don't know, I can call and ask. Alex goes to the same surgeon, maybe she can chime in.

The fills are done at the hospital though, under flouroscope, so I imagine that would be costly. I'm unemployed right now, and having trouble making bills, so I can't self pay.

There was a study that said it's recommended to wait 3 months post-op before filling... something about there being less incidence of slipping with the greater healing period. (I read it when I was researching... but ignored it when it was time for my fill, heh.)

I know that study doesn't help you with the will-power diet, but at least you can soothe yourself by telling yourself your surgeon's being safe & you'll be very unlikely to have complications.

(( Hugs!! )) Hang in there! Soon this will be behind you!

Leener, the cost of a fill would be several hundred bucks, all told. The surgeon's fee might be covered, I guess, but the hospital bill is something like $400 on top of that.

But you know, you're halfway to 90 days already! Don't worry, don't sweat it, the day will come when you can't even remember that this seemed like a problem. You have the rest of your life to live with the band and deal with restriction, so 6 weeks now will make no difference in the long run.

Thanks Alex for posting in this. Yes, that's defo too much and I don't mind waiting a little longer because your right, I'm almost there. I'm having a bit of a health crisis going on so a fill is on the back burner and the least of the problem right now.

Janet, I like the sound of that, it makes so much more sense. I'm one that likes to err on the side of caution anyway. Just hoping the weight isn't back on when the fill comes around.