How much did your weight loss surgery in Mexico cost, total?

[WitchySar 244]

Tonight I learned there's a chance my medicaid will expire before I get my surgery. I have no other insurance. So leaving aside the host of other problems caused by not having insurance, this means there's a chance I may not be able to have WLS unless I pay for it myself. I honestly have no idea how to do that, we live paycheck to paycheck and have bad credit, so no loans for me. Which leaves me trying to pay for it out of pocket with my tax refund. Before I can even start to think about doing that though I need more info on how much surgery in Mexico cost, total. Surgery, hospital stay, plane tickets there, etc. If your spouse or significant other went with you did they stay at the hospital, or did they have to get a hotel room. All that stuff.

So after all was said and done... how much did WLS in Mexico cost you?

[OKCPirate 5,323]

$4995. I used frequent flyer miles to get there

[skinnygirlwantsout 7]

I will already be in the LA area the week of my surgery and my husband is also getting his done as well. Our surgeries are $4500 each and they are transporting us. We are going to stay an extra couple of nights in a hotel and then fly home, so we're sitting at an extra $600-700 or so for that and return flights. It's not necessary for us to stay but we have 3 boys and need extra time since we will both be out.

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

[WitchySar 244]

Wow, that is an amazing price. Where did you find it?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using the BariatricPal App

[KristenLe 5,980]

@@WitchySar Why is your insurance expiring? Have you contacted anyone from your State's Health Exchange to see if you qualify for a plan through the affordable care act?

[WitchySar 244]

I have medicaid and it's up for recertification in January. Currently what my husband makes is right on the line for continuing medicaid. If he gets a lot of overtime right before recertification then we'll be denied, but if he doesn't get a lot of overtime then we'll be approved. He currently works through an employment agency so there's no health insurance available for me. If he gets hired on we can get on his insurance but we know nothing about it. For all I know it might not cover WLS. So I need to prepare myself, just in case.

When I checked the health exchange it looked like the cheapest we would qualify for would cost us over $700 a month and have a $5000 deductible. There's no chance at all that we could afford that.

Edited June 28, 2016 by WitchySar

[CaPoppy 22]

Can your surgeon move up your surgery date? Your recert month isn't until January, that is pretty far away.

If that's not possible I would just seriously weight the cost of paying out of pocket vs your husband working extra hours and putting you over the amount. Its a terrible choice, but $5000 or so is a lot of money.

[WitchySar 244]

I haven't even had my first appointment with my surgeon yet. That's not until July 21st. I did start a diet under my PCP's supervision so I'm HOPING that can count for the first month of my clinically supervised diet. I can't count on that though. Realistically I expect surgery to be February or March.

IF my surgeon’s office will accept my weigh in with my primary that I did at the beginning of June I would finish my 6 month clinically diet at the beginning of December. IF my surgeon’s office puts through the authorization request right away, and IF medicaid approves it right away, and IF the surgery schedule has an opening, I MIGHT get the surgery in January. But those are a lot of ifs.

If my husband has the choice to not work a lot of overtime for the month before recert then we'll do that, but it's not always an option.

["Henry" 109]

Hi WitchySar,

If you decide to go "self-pay", BariatricPal can help you.

We recommend the following surgeons:

• Dr. jaime Ponce de leon starts at $4999

• dr. Jesus Lopez Dominguez starts at $4399

• Dr. Jalil Illan starts at $4399

We offer way more than all of the independent surgery facilitators in the care of our patients. The surgery packages we offer have all ground transportation and accommodations included for yourself and up to 1 companion.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns so we can go over all the details and get you the most comprehensive surgery package available in Mexico.

[Alex Brecher 10,516]

happytrooper11 works for this surgeon. Their IP address was coming from Mexico and they've been banned.

I'd be a little careful if I were you....

Oh and the email they used to register was worklongtermvsg@XXXXX.com . That was a pure giveaway.

It's impossible to offer actual surgery using decent equipment, facilities, staff, non-expired staples etc for such a low price. They're skimping on things that you don't realize but you're putting your life at risk.

[Alex Brecher 10,516]

Just another update. Our attorney has just mailed out a cease and desist letter to this company. They consistently sign up as forum members posing as potential patients or patients that have already successfully had surgery. Please do your research before you use any surgeon.

[Thick2Thin2016 63]

I paid a down payment of 525.00 to reserve my surgery date.my balance was 3800.00 which I brought in the form of cashiers check.I flew southwest and paid around 260.00 RT.I brought about 100.00 in cash in case I needed it.I went with MBC. I had my surgery March 17 and have lost 50 pounds.

[hbrhonda 108]

Mine was $500 down $3750 when I got there. Included airport transfers from San Diego, 1 pre op hotel night, surgery, 2 nights hospital stay, 2 nights post op hotel and post op meds. I used Dr Fernando Garcia at Tijuana Bariatrics for sleeve surgery last week. When I got my band I used Dr Ortiz at Obesity Control Center. He is kinda high priced now but also top notch. Wish I coulda used him again.

[WitchySar 244]

Thank you for the info. It's looking more and more like I'm going to be losing medicaid right before I finish the requirements for the surgery, so I'm definitely looking more into this.

How long did it take to get the surgery, once you made your decision? How did you get started with the process? Is it done online? I have anxiety and can't do phone calls.

[Thick2Thin2016 63]

You can send them an email to get started.I had a popular date picked so I started early.for me I paid my deposit on Jan 9 and surgery date was Mar 17.I am sure I could have gotten an earlier date if I needed it.You have to called to give financial info (credit card or debit) but the call is short. They email a copy of the transaction.for MBC pts. You stay at Hyatt of Tj.it is nice and feels very safe.This was my first time out of the country. They took care of everything.I was scared for nothing.