I was banded February 15th, 2006 by Dr. Spiegel in Houston. Because of some recent incidents that have occured, as of June 1st UHC will drop him from their plan. My question is....Should I check with my insurance company and see what other Doctors are in the network? And if I find one, will that doctor give me my fills if he didn't perform the surgery? I've been told that if that doctor didn't do your surgery, they will not fill your band. Is that a crock? From everything I have read, it seems to be...

I'm a patient of Dr. Spivak's, but I was wondering if any of you have tried calling the Surgicenter and asking them about it. Dr. Spivak and Dr. Spiegel both use the Surgicenter for their fills. It's worth a try.

MY friend worked at Spiegels office recently! She said that for me since I havent had my first fill. That its free!! but after that I will find someone else in network or pay 100!! SO if you have UHC and havent had a fill its suppose to be free!!! I will find out June 8!!

Kim-Pearland TX

220/205

I have tried about 4 or 5 different Dr's in the Houston area and all are over $100... I had Dr Spiegel also. I have gone as far as promising them at least 4 referrals if they would do my fill for copay. I have about 6 friends either already approved by Spiegel or ready to go thru the procedure and still can't get them to accept me. Going back to Spiegel to finish my weight lose. I figure I need only 2 or 3 more fills before I am done. I am going to just pay the $100 a time and just get done asap.

I think something is going on with him. I got a letter from UHC. They are reviewing my April fill. His office charged them 600.00 for a fill!!! That is ridiculous. Plus I have had 2 calls from UHC. They were asking me questions about my previous 2 visits. I honestly feel bad for UHC if that is what he charges them for each fill. I do find it strange that he's not accepting new patients. All is not right. Keep in touch! Susan

Something strange is going on with UHC and the Dr.'s in Houston. I am not at all pleased with UHC right now. I got a letter in the mail stating that they were denying my claim because I didn't provide them with the info that they had asked for. I have NO clue what claim they were talking about and they never asked me for any info. My friend got the same exact letter.

UHC needs to get there shit straight. Spivak is working with his patients and I have out of network coverage so my fills are still just the $20, but my other friend uses Spiegel and her fill would cost her $100 also! So currently she is depressed, gaining weight and has no fill. I hope that something will work out!!!

Good luck to you guys!

why doesnt she switch to spivak they are in same surgery center. and i know he does some of spiegel patients fills.

I just had my first un-covered fill with Spiegel today. When I had my surgery back in Dec. I thought all my fills would be covered. Well, I was told the day before my appt. to bring $100 in cash to cover Spiegel's fee plus I had to pay the surgery center my co-pay. That's $120 for a fill!!! I got NO phone call from Spiegel's office informing me that there would be changes! They didn't even bother to tell me when I called to make an appt for this fill. Then I get there today and Spiegel is RUDE!!! I wanted to say "You better show some respect, I just paid you $100 for 60 seconds of you time". I have got to find a doctor who will do my fills. I can't take another minute of this man! If any of you know of a doctor in the Houston area who will do fills on another doc's patient, PLEASE let me know!