Hello,

My name is India and I joined a few years ago but I stayed away because of circumstance. I initially started my journey in 2007 and that is when I learned that my husband's comany has a WLS exclusion for our Kaiser health plan. Yes, we have Kaiser and they will not pay for my surgery due to the exclusion. At the time, I was considering gastric banding but I wasn't working so self pay was not an option so I put it in the back of my mind and once I picked myself up, I started exercising and changed my eating habits. Well this did not last and I ended up gaining the weight back and more. I repeated this pattern for the past 5 years.

At the time, I didn't realize it was husband's company that added the exclusion for WLS so I began researching VSG after I had heard about failures regarding the band and got the bright idea to change our health plan. I joined this site and did a lot of research and waited for enrollment. Well, I looked into all of the health plans being offered and they all had the exclusion. This is when I found it was my husband's company that had made the decision. Again I was crushed. I gained and lost in the mean time. I turned 40, started a new job and and decided to give myself a new lease on life. With my husbands support, I started looking in my area for surgeons and wouldn't you know, another road block. The prices are ridiculous. $25,000, $20,000, $18,000...if you're self pay then you know what I'm talking about. I certainly didn't want to leave the country for the surgery and it never occured to me that surgeons in other states would offer low cost options, I thought they would all be just as expensive. I recently heard about a couple of low cost options and I am researching the surgeons.

I wanted to say that I am glad to have found this site and I hope to contribute and help someone just as I have been helped.

~India

Hey there! Welcome and thank you for speaking up,we're here for you! I have already been sleeved 3 weeks ago and I did not self pay so I can't offer you much advice. =( BUT,I wanted to wish you good luck!!!! ((HUGS))

I welcome you and respect your thoughts on staying in the States. However, I was a self pay and went to MX (my husband accompanied me) and I had a wonderful experiece the entire time. Not once was I afraid, in bad hands or felt not cared for, matter of fact, it was a better experience than I could of imagined and I was taking care of better than I have ever been in any hospital here. Good qualified surgeons in MX have done many many of these surgeries and are quite experienced. I felt the same way as you did at one time. There was NO WAY I would travel to a foreign country for any reason. I ran out of options and so glad I did. I was hopeless, discouraged and very depressed. Today I am 2 weeks out and feel great, healthy and look forward to the future. Surgery cost $5500.00 including everything except airfare. Just saying.... if you do not have much hope don't rule it out because of fear. There is a forum on here that pertains to traveling to MX, check it out.

Hey there! Welcome and thank you for speaking up,we're here for you! I have already been sleeved 3 weeks ago and I did not self pay so I can't offer you much advice. =( BUT,I wanted to wish you good luck!!!! ((HUGS))

Thanks!

I welcome you and respect your thoughts on staying in the States. However, I was a self pay and went to MX (my husband accompanied me) and I had a wonderful experiece the entire time. Not once was I afraid, in bad hands or felt not cared for, matter of fact, it was a better experience than I could of imagined and I was taking care of better than I have ever been in any hospital here. Good qualified surgeons in MX have done many many of these surgeries and are quite experienced. I felt the same way as you did at one time. There was NO WAY I would travel to a foreign country for any reason. I ran out of options and so glad I did. I was hopeless, discouraged and very depressed. Today I am 2 weeks out and feel great, healthy and look forward to the future. Surgery cost $5500.00 including everything except airfare. Just saying.... if you do not have much hope don't rule it out because of fear. There is a forum on here that pertains to traveling to MX, check it out.

Thanks for the advice, I'll take it into consideration.