Will Surgery Make Me Uninsurable?

[WLJourneyJ 89]

I'm considering having surgery in Mexico... I'm self employed and carry our family's insurance policy. I'm finding that most individual plans don't cover weight loss surgery... so I have to self pay. I can afford Mexico rates no problem but not US a 3x that. ha ha.

I'm wondering though if having the surgery will now be seen as a "preexisting condition" that will make me uninsurable in the future? anyone have experience with this?

[lunabella007 37]

I shouldn't think so, but that's just a hunch. You'd think the insurance company would be thrilled that you're losing weight and have fewer co-morbidities. Anyway, didn't that new health law make it illegal to deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions?

[I_Sd8_em 28]

even pre-existing conditions are usually insured after 12 months.

[WLJourneyJ 89]

okay... i'll keep with my same insurance company for a while... and i'm sure i'll be fine.. i'll maybe call them and check anyway.. (anonymously)

[4ALongerLife 329]

I am a contractor and have a really crappy policy thru my contracting agency (although I otherwise love the company); however, I called around to several insurances, trying to find a better policy if possible. Blue Cross Blue Shield, automatically with sleeve will deny you. Many of the other companies are the same way OR after 5 years post sleeve (Cigna) will they give you the option to buy a plan from them. The same is true for RnY, I asked. Do your homework first and make sure that you can find insurance pls. Because many US insurance companies, the underwriters will deny you once that history is filled out.

I decided to stay on the crappy plan. Since it's a group plan, I upped the coverage to the one with higher premiums (very high but I think that's what's going on in the States healthcare system right now). I don't have to fill out a health history since I'm on the group plan and "don't ask, don't tell" is my policy going forward.

In relation to "pre-existing condition" it sometimes depends on how they write your medical records. I was a self pay sleever and I got pneumonia after surgery, then a leak as my body rejected one staple and the tummy opened, spilling contents for a few weeks. It was found as I kept spiking temperatures and suddenly had a terrible pain in my side and shallow breathing. The body is wonderfully created - my body tried to protect itself by taking the leaked contents and isolating them elsewhere to protect the rest of me. The area? My diaphragm. Remember I had pneumonia? Can you say painful?

Sorry I digress.... the point was my pneumonia was coded from the ER visit as "aspiration pneumonia"... there is no way to prove it was a complication of surgery and the dr's notes were written with that in mind. Same ended to be true of the other hospitalization. But I did voice my concern from the get go regarding my records and the ICD 9 codes that they utilized.

[O.T.R. sleever 3,386]

If you need to buy health insurance on the open market, I recomend joining your farm bureau. They have group policies available. To their members.

[Territravel 217]

okay... i'll keep with my same insurance company for a while... and i'm sure i'll be fine.. i'll maybe call them and check anyway.. (anonymously)

Call from someone elses phone....LOL