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Self Pay in TN? Costs?



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Hi everyone!! I have Aetna as primary and Tricare as secondary and neither will pay. Does anyone have an cost information for any doctors/pay plans etc.. in TN or surrounding area? One doctor in M'Boro quoted me in the 19k range- yikes!! Thanks in advance:)

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Hey!. I was just sleeved in Mexico for $9700 by Dr. Alvarez. At Centennial in Nashville it was $25000--yeah yiiiiikes. I have UHC but my husbands policy excludes weight loss surgery!! So--- I went to mexico! Good Luck!

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In Dallas and Houston the sleeve is $11,555 - $12,500 and done at a center of excellence.

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so if your self pay, in Mexico or not, do you have to do all the pre-op tests?

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I was finally sleeved on 2/4 by the doctor I wanted to do my surgery in the 1st place! (Dr. Wayne Westmoreland in Murfreesboro, TN). The total cost was 12k AND done by a center of excellence doctor. He was and is most wonderful. He is a sweet Christian man. Knowing this, I asked him to pray with me preop and postop. I had such a calming feeling.

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Hi everyone!! I have Aetna as primary and Tricare as secondary and neither will pay. Does anyone have an cost information for any doctors/pay plans etc.. in TN or surrounding area? One doctor in M'Boro quoted me in the 19k range- yikes!! Thanks in advance:)

I am not from TN, but paid $15,500 in San Antonio, Tx . . this cost included 3 day stay in a very private prestine hospital, the surgeon, the anesthetologist, nursing care, 1 year of post op care, support group, nutritionist, and any care you need post op. I think that is a good cost. . .

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I am not from TN, but paid $15,500 in San Antonio, Tx . . this cost included 3 day stay in a very private prestine hospital, the surgeon, the anesthetologist, nursing care, 1 year of post op care, support group, nutritionist, and any care you need post op. I think that is a good cost. . .

Hi Tennessee,

I too am looking to go with Dr Westmoreland in Murfreesboro.I was considering going to the hospital in Shelbyville to have the surgery instead of MTMC b/c it is closer to home.I would love to hear about your experiences - pay options,hospital stay...etc... How long did it take you from Seminar to Surgery? How are you doing thus far! It is so nice to speak to someone that will have the same physician as myself! I hope all is going well for you

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I'm right outside of KNoxville and I went with Dr Aceves in Mexico. He is cheaper and has MUCH better results and more experience.

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I'm in Murfreesboro and had a consult with Dr. Westmoreland myself. My insurance doesn't pay for VSG so instead of waiting around and going thru the appeal process, I flew to Mexico and had my surgery performed by Dr. Aceves as well. I got a much more experienced doctor at a much better price and have had zero complications or other issues. I was quoted $17,900 for the self-pay price at MTMC.

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More experienced? More experience than who? My surgeon is a center of excellence guy....I paid 12k - I happen to think you get what you pay for some times. I had absolutely zero complications. I had basically zero pain from day one except when I coughed or rolled over in bed at night. I reached goal in just under five months. I may be nuts, but it sure seems like this fella you're crowing about has people on here advertising for him. My doctors name is listed below with my stats, but I'm not shouting his name from the roof tops - his reputation speaks for itself....I'm not his walking, talking ad. I'll talk to someone about him if asked or if the thread is about surgeons or someone needs the name of one in Dallas....I also name two others that I know of that are top notch. God knows my physician is not the only one who can do wls safely and isn't the only one who can do a bang up job! Just sayin'

I'm in Murfreesboro and had a consult with Dr. Westmoreland myself. My insurance doesn't pay for VSG so instead of waiting around and going thru the appeal process, I flew to Mexico and had my surgery performed by Dr. Aceves as well. I got a much more experienced doctor at a much better price and have had zero complications or other issues. I was quoted $17,900 for the self-pay price at MTMC.

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Dr Westmooreland is a center of excellence doctor. They may have went up in costs but if u tell Dr Westmoreland I sent u he will honor the $12k price. Just go to the seminar and he will get u skd at the Shelbyville hospital which is a new facility and I enjoyed my 1 night stay very much. Typically u can go home the same day though. I would not have gone any other way. He is an excellent Christian man and I think he's one of the best.

quote name='NtvTxn' timestamp='1306718349' post='157117']

More experienced? More experience than who? My surgeon is a center of excellence guy....I paid 12k - I happen to think you get what you pay for some times. I had absolutely zero complications. I had basically zero pain from day one except when I coughed or rolled over in bed at night. I reached goal in just under five months. I may be nuts, but it sure seems like this fella you're crowing about has people on here advertising for him. My doctors name is listed below with my stats, but I'm not shouting his name from the roof tops - his reputation speaks for itself....I'm not his walking, talking ad. I'll talk to someone about him if asked or if the thread is about surgeons or someone needs the name of one in Dallas....I also name two others that I know of that are top notch. God knows my physician is not the only one who can do wls safely and isn't the only one who can do a bang up job! Just sayin'

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More experienced? More experience than who? My surgeon is a center of excellence guy....I paid 12k - I happen to think you get what you pay for some times. I had absolutely zero complications. I had basically zero pain from day one except when I coughed or rolled over in bed at night. I reached goal in just under five months. I may be nuts, but it sure seems like this fella you're crowing about has people on here advertising for him. My doctors name is listed below with my stats, but I'm not shouting his name from the roof tops - his reputation speaks for itself....I'm not his walking, talking ad. I'll talk to someone about him if asked or if the thread is about surgeons or someone needs the name of one in Dallas....I also name two others that I know of that are top notch. God knows my physician is not the only one who can do wls safely and isn't the only one who can do a bang up job! Just sayin'

Calm down, sweetie. I'm not advertising for any doc - just passing along my own info and experience to any one else who may be reading this and considering VSG in Murfreesboro with Westmoreland. No need to get your skinny, 'I reached goal in 5 months' panties in a wad, m'kay? Look at my previous posts - I'm not shouting his name from the rooftops, either. It does seem as if a few others post ridiculous ads for him which is extremely annoying but I resent getting lumped into that category with my one little reply here. I'm very happy with my sleeve and with the surgeon that created it and if I want to name drop in a tasteful manner then so be it.

I didn't want to pay the full $17,900 for a local doc whose experience lies mostly in lap bands and RnY's. By Westmoreland's own admission he hasn't done a quarter of the sleeves that he-who-is-not-to-be-named has performed successfully because insurance rarely covers the procedure. He was even trying to push me into RnY which I didn't want and even his own nurse, a RnY patient herself, said she'd rather have had the sleeve, too. So yeah, MY foreign doc has more experience with VSG than a bona fide, AMERICAN, COE doctor. And my post was concerning this one particular surgeon - not yours and certainly no other surgeon in Dallas. Seriously.

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My panties aren't in a wad and I'm cool as cucumber, but I sure got your attention. Sounds to me like you needed to move on to another doctor if this Westmoreland guy was trying to pressure you into a surgery you didn't want. Paragraph #2 is what it comes down to though, isn't it? Money. You didn't want to pay the almost 18k - and that's fine. 'Nuff said.

Calm down, sweetie. I'm not advertising for any doc - just passing along my own info and experience to any one else who may be reading this and considering VSG in Murfreesboro with Westmoreland. No need to get your skinny, 'I reached goal in 5 months' panties in a wad, m'kay? Look at my previous posts - I'm not shouting his name from the rooftops, either. It does seem as if a few others post ridiculous ads for him which is extremely annoying but I resent getting lumped into that category with my one little reply here. I'm very happy with my sleeve and with the surgeon that created it and if I want to name drop in a tasteful manner then so be it.

I didn't want to pay the full $17,900 for a local doc whose experience lies mostly in lap bands and RnY's. By Westmoreland's own admission he hasn't done a quarter of the sleeves that he-who-is-not-to-be-named has performed successfully because insurance rarely covers the procedure. He was even trying to push me into RnY which I didn't want and even his own nurse, a RnY patient herself, said she'd rather have had the sleeve, too. So yeah, MY foreign doc has more experience with VSG than a bona fide, AMERICAN, COE doctor. And my post was concerning this one particular surgeon - not yours and certainly no other surgeon in Dallas. Seriously.

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My panties aren't in a wad and I'm cool as cucumber, but I sure got your attention. Sounds to me like you needed to move on to another doctor if this Westmoreland guy was trying to pressure you into a surgery you didn't want. Paragraph #2 is what it comes down to though, isn't it? Money. You didn't want to pay the almost 18k - and that's fine. 'Nuff said.

You got a small snippet of my attention due to your butting into a thread concerning self-pay costs in Tennessee twice when you're located in Dallas and because you chose to single my post out when several others mentioned Aceves and his superior experience in VSG. I give gnats about the same amount of swattage, too.

Have a wonderful night!

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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