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Hey everyone..! I'm new, & have my first appointment with my doctor! (In shelton, Connecticut) on Thursday. I just got the call saying I'm covered.. But my parents switched insurance in January of 15 & the deductible is 4k! The woman said it goes towards visits ,etc but whatever is owed to the office has to be paid before procedure can be done..

I was told the deductible is what you pay before policy takes effect. What can I do? Can I do a payment plan? If I do the process of the sleeve with all the appointments needed before surgery, will it go down?

Do I have any options or do I have to wait & save?

I've waited for this for so long.. I'm getting really sad :/

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you can apply for a medical loan. It is the only way I know how. I had to pay out of pocket and that is what I did. Good luck I know how it is!

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Hey everyone..! I'm new, & have my first appointment with my doctor! (In shelton, Connecticut) on Thursday. I just got the call saying I'm covered.. But my parents switched insurance in January of 15 & the deductible is 4k! The woman said it goes towards visits ,etc but whatever is owed to the office has to be paid before procedure can be done..

I was told the deductible is what you pay before policy takes effect. What can I do? Can I do a payment plan? If I do the process of the sleeve with all the appointments needed before surgery, will it go down?

When they said "whatever is owed to the office has to be paid before the procedure is done," do they mean your balance has to be paid off or do they mean you have to prepay the procedure? If the former, then if your insurance allows $75 for each office visit, for example, then you would have to pay $75 each visit until your surgery (I doubt you would rack up $4000 in office visit charges).

Generally, a deductible is what you pay before the insurance pays. That can mean different things for different policies. Here are some examples, the first one is my own policy:

1. Office visit copays are $35, and the deductible does not apply. Everything else has a $1250 deductible (xrays, tests, etc.). Once the $1250 deductible is met, my insurance covers 70% and I pay 30%. The total I ever have to pay in one year is $5000, then insurance pays 100%.

2. The patient pays $4,000 in deductible before insurance pays a dime.

3. The first three office visits in a calendar year are $25 each, then the patient has to meet a deductible of $2,000, then the insurance pays 80% and the patient pays 20%.

So as you can see, depending on the terms of your policy, your deductible may work in different ways.

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Oh okay thank you. I've seen that people didn't have to pay the whole thing upfront.. I have my first appointment tomorrow I'm going to ask my surgeon what my options are. I won't give up!

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Please fill us in on whatever it's you decide

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    • LeighaTR

      I am new here today... and only two weeks out from my sleeve surgery on the 23rd. I am amazed I have kept my calories down to 467 today so far... that leaves me almost 750 left for dinner and maybe a snack. This is going to be tough for two weeks... but I have to believe I can do it!
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Doughgurl

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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