I told my boss (owner of our small company of less than 30employees) a few weeks ago that I was going through the steps for qualification for weight loss surgery. He was happy for me and said to let him know for there was anything "they (the company)" could do to help. I let him know I'd have a lot of doctors appointment leading up to it but to it but that was all.

This week i found out that the surgery is excluded from our group insurance policy (even though i myself as well as the surgery center confirmed t was covered) and I will now be a cash pay patient. I even checked to see if it could be added to our policy. My boss would agree if so. Our insurance broker said no.

A reputable surgeon in my area does it for $12k. I was prepared to pay my insurance out of pocket max of $6k (care credit or credit card) but not $12k.

I've considered asking my boss if they could either pay the other half.

Has anyone had an employer help? If so how should I approach?

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I personally wouldn't ask my employer to pay for my surgery but perhaps your circumstances are different. I work for a great company with great people but I still wouldn't have expected or asked the company to contribute at all monetarily. I'm not sure how they would even do that without running into potential discrimination issues. If they contribute to your surgery then that obligates them to pay for anyone else's surgery should they be asked to.

Sounds like MX might be a better option for you. This surgery is excluded from my healthcare coverage as well so I took my 5k and booked the surgery in MX. I personally think it's less stress than having to jump through the hoops and max out credit cards. The cheapest price I could find in the states for the surgery was $10,500 in Boca Raton but it was still more than I could afford without taking out loans. The 5k that I'm spending on surgery includes 2 plane tickets for me and my daughter. Good luck!