Hi my name is Shawna, I am 28 yrs old and currently back at school. My insurance is thru the college and I highly doubt they will cover this surgery. Has anyone done the self pay? What tips do you have for me? What type of financing is out there? How do you pick your doctor? Was there high consultation fees? What is the first step to getting a lap band? I have heard people talk about seminars and was wondering if they are all the same or does each doctor have their own. What is the psych evaluation, and what are they looking for?

I just really want this done and am afraid I wont be able to because of the monetary side of it. If anyone can give me a guesstimate for cost that would be great!!

Shawna

Hi Shawna!

appx out of pocket is between 12-15 thousand dollars... Seminars are normally held by each dr.'s practice..Seminar &consultations are normally free-- they will guide you thru the rest..

If you will be a cash pay- you can get financing thru several ways--Capital One Health finance is one of them.. I checked into that about 2 yrs ago.. My insurance denied me several times and I appealed their decision b/c how can they know what's best for me. The procedure was not excluded on my policy but they wanted to pick & choose and wanted me to have the Gastric Bypass-- I surely did not want that- You can also, take a loan out thru your bank or credit union or try to find a low rate credit card.. there are several options out there

I have been banded since 11/28/06 and love it.. I like that my intake is restricted.. I've lost 29lbs so far.. slow is good I only have 48 more lbs to go to my goal weight.. Good luck and I hope this help.. Some procedures are cheaper, but make sure that your are comfortable with the dr... do lots of research and attend several seminars by different dr's... good luck & best wishes... let me know if I can help answer any other questions PS my sister had this done 2/2005 and has lost 102 lbs she went from a size 22 to a size 8

Thank you so much! I just really want this surgery and all my freinds laugh and tell me I can do it on my own if I only tried harder. Of course they are all a size 0 (not really, but it feels like it!!!). So thanks again, and good luck with your goal weight.

Hey Shawna! Welcome! I was self pay and I went to Dr. Ortiz in Tijuana. His web-site is Relocate . It's $8,500 no hidden fees. You fly in to San Diego and a driver will pick you up. You have a pre-op about 24 hours before. Spend the first night in the hotel they provide which is a nice one. You stay one night at the OCC hospital and then go to the hotel they provide for one additional night then they take you back to the airport on the third day. The hospital is very clean and the Dr. has a great record. He is awesome and I love him. You should check it out. I am very satisfied. There's no psych. eval. They look at your BMI, then give you a pre-op diet plan to follow. And that's it!! There's no waiting period or any crap. You could be banded by summer!!

I went through efinancing-solutions.com to get the loan. It wasn't a great APR but i didn't want to put it on the credit card and there's no penalties to pay it off early.

Let me know if you have other questions. Good Luck!

One more thing. You're probably looking at double that cost in the states. SO it depends on how you feel about going out of state. It is SO worth it!!