Has anyone had their surgery through Sparrow Bariatric and Weight Management Services in Lansing, MI without insurance? What sort of cost estimates did they give you and what did you think of the staff and docs?

Thanks

The staff and doctors have been fantastic. I'm a little disappointed in the after care - but I can say I was WELL prepared going in. Then again I had a six month regimen that McLaren imposed upon me to lose weight prior to the surgery. My out of pocket costs have been around $4,500 for the whole process (that's with insurance). I've kept a spreadsheet of the total costs - that included all of the doctor visits/x-rays/sleep clinic etc for the clearances plus surgery and it totaled $46k. Then McLaren "discounted" that down to $13k.

All I paid to Sparrow Weight Management (SWM) directly was about $600 plus a couple of $30 co-pays. That was for the New Direction Protein shakes/bars/soups, scales, Vitamins. Plus I was getting shakes before surgery just to help with losing weight.

My surgeon was Dr. Kososochi Obinwanne (who I love!). The head surgeon is Dr. Mindy Lane - and she is well regarded in the field as well she was head-hunted for the position. She would only agree to come over to Sparrow if she could bring her staff with her. There was something about that that made me more comfortable with everyone.

There is a support group meeting every third Wednesday at 7:pm upstairs from SWM. It helped me get the answers to so many questions I had before surgery by going to these meetings. Don't be afraid to ask.

Thank you @@MichiganGirl! I have heard good things, generally, about their program, staff, and docs, and am hoping to get the financing info so I can determine whether I can afford them out of pocket or not. Unfortunately, the "free info seminar" has been getting in my way wherever I go--I've been to it before, but docs all over seem to want everyone to go to theirs and within a certain time period. I wouldn't mind going if it didn't slow the process down so much!

Call the office and ask. I also had McLaren insurance and I'm still waiting for all the numbers to come in. It took over a month to get an appointment after the seminar so get your seminar out of the way. I know a few people who went to Grand Rapids for their surgeries. I ruled that out because I didn't want to drive that far for appointments. I had a great hospital experience. The staff was very attentive to my needs and I felt I received excellent care. Many people go to Mexico for the surgery. I'm too chicken for that.

Yeah, I am looking at GR too. Unfortunately I started my appointments once a couple years ago, found out insurance didn't cover it and gave up. Now I'm trying to get it financed, but I'm assuming they'll make me do the appointments again.

The first couple appointments I wasn't especially fond of the staff--the psych evaluation doc made our convo highly religious in nature and the intake nurse was asking me why I was looking at lap band instead of Roux-en-Y, like I was an idiot, and wouldn't let it go. Maybe I was highly sensitive because I don't take the decision lightly, but it kinda put a bad taste in my mouth for the place. Hopefully these were just isolated incidences, or maybe I was being too sensitive.

Ugh! So, I was told I had to go to the Info Session to get my one question answered--how much is the surgery for cash patients--and after sitting through an hour of info I had already heard, I was nonchalantly told that the surgery would cost me $25k out of pocket, nbd. That's more than double every other place in MI I've looked at! Good grief! So, on to somewhere else, I guess.