Hello all! I am new here. I was wondering if anyone else here has used this group from http://www.gastricbandinstitute.com/ it is based in Chattanooga area of TN. I will be moving to TN soon and shortly after will be looking into this. I am very interested in the sleeve surgery and have been gathering my info and research to better prepare myself.

My questions are about financing. I do not have insurance to cover the surgery so we (fiance and I) are considering to finance it. I have actually been in contact with the group themselves via email and they gave me some information on the financing servicers they coordinate with and which ones they recommend the most, etc. I was just curious if anyone else on this forum has used the doctors involved in this group, which I believe is Dr Jaime Ponce and Dr. Steve Paynter as well as Dr. Richard Fromm. I think I have seen Dr. Ponce mentioned around here before (I have been lurking for a few days) but I wasn't sure if it was the same one from TN.

I guess I am just wondering about financing and if it is very complicated to do. My fiance and I both have stable jobs and good credit, so I do not think that it would be too hard to get accepted for the financing. But if we do, what exactly happens? Do you just get somewhat of a credit card that you can only use for medical purposes, is it only applicable to a specific facility that accepts the financer?

I know I could just talk to them about it, but I figure this would be a nice way to gather information and meet others that did this through financing in case any other questions come up in the future, and also did it in the same group.

No one? :/

I'm sure someone will answer shortly. The only thing that I can say on the topic is that one of the physicians in MX that I am considering said that if I finance the amount with one of the medical finance groups, to ask for 10% over the cost? I didn't ask why because I am not using medical finance, but I found that odd. If I have to self pay, I am just going to set my date out far enough to save my money.

Yeah. I have heard similar things. I just don't make enough money to save it in any reasonable time frame. But checking with the companies they affiliate with, I can afford the monthly payment in the longest repayment plan which is like 60 months or something like that.

I completely understand. My niece used Care Credit and she was pleased. Try them.