I am very interested in getting the band. I have Kaiser insurance and don't think they will cover it, or will make it very difficult. Does anyone have experience dealing with them? I am considering paying out of pocket for the procedure. Does anyone have any information on the best way to finance it and cost?

My advice is to call your insurance company directly and ask them how much they will cover and what Dr's, especially if you have a specific one in mind. Just make sure when you do call to note the time and name of the person for your records. It probably wouldn't hurt to call more then once either! Good Luck!

Nikki07 - It seems to depend on where you are as to whether or not Kaiser pays for the band. Northern California has the availability of the band but we have to travel to the bay area. They just started doing the band in February of this year. I have heard some people in the Colorado area have gotten it through Kaiser.

So far what I have had to do is get referred by my PCP. Then I went to an orientation where they told us all about the proceedure and criteria for getting bariactric surgery. My next steps will be to go see the director of bariactric surgery, nutritionalist, psych appointment, and then go to see the surgeon. I do have to take a Life Styles class. I have had to eat as directed in their pre-op meal plan in order to loose a certain amount of weight and to learn how to eat right so I have it down after I get banded. I will be told on Aug. 3rd by the director just how much weight I need to loose but it seems that most of the time the most that is required is 10%. Some people will be required to loose less due to their body shape. Pear shaped is good. The pre-op meal plan isn't that hard. It's basically 1200 calories, 3 meals per day, and the amount of Protein, veggies, fruit, etc. is set for you.

The process is a slow one. It seems that they are pretty overwhelmed with the amount of people in the pipeline. At the South San Francisco facility alone they have 900 people in the pipeline. It WILL take you 3 to 6 months to get through it. But, depending on your plan, the cost can make it worth your while to do it through Kaiser. It does get frustrating with things happening so slowly but I figure that it will just be that much less weight I have to loose after I get the band. After all, we have all lost weight on diets, it's keeping it off that makes it defeating.

Hope this helps. Feel free to email me if you want.

My friend is in the process of having her band done at the Richmond Kaiser. They do cover it, but they told her that it takes 9 months to a year to go through the process.

It doesn't surprise me that it can take 9 months to a year. From what I've heard the processes are different between the two. When they told me 3 to 6 months I thought they had to be being careful about getting people's hopes up. I didn't even hear about my next appointments for 4 or 5 weeks after orientation. Then they were 4 weeks away.

WOW 9 months to a year and a bunch of hoops! Another option would be to self pay and then claim it on your taxes for the deduction (Medical Section)