Insurance info for Gastric Sleeve

[Martzia Ely 1]

Hello,

Just when I thought I had all my ducks in a row before calling my surgeon and getting the process started for gastric sleeve surgery, I was gutted to find out that my insurance doesn't cover the surgery even if deemed medically necessary. All over my providers site it says they do cover weight loss surgeries. But of course when I call my health care provider directly, they say they don't cover any kinds of surgery.

I was devastated. I won't go into the long diatribes of my struggles because I'm sure everyone else here has either gone through the same thing that brought them to looking into the surgery if not similar things like constant yo-yo diets, losing weight and gaining it back, sleep and mobility issues, etc etc.

Nevertheless, I refuse to just give up hope just because my current insurance wont cover it. Have any of you had luck finding healthcare coverage that will cover it if deemed medically necessary? Or is self pay/financing truly the only way?

ANY and ALL help is so greatly appreciated,

M

[New&Improved 1,780]

Might have to find better insurance?

[Martzia Ely 1]

Just now, Superman84 said:

Might have to find better insurance?

Yes I would figure as much, that's why I was wondering maybe what kind of insurance other people have had success with so I could consider switching. Every insurance company I've looked into says they just don't cover it, regardless of being medically necessary. I'm in the very beginning stages of this whole thing, but I'm sure that is obvious lol.

[Losingit2018 1,170]

If I were in your shoes, I would contact the surgeon that you plan to use and ask for their advice. They are experienced dealing with insurance companies n your area. They may be able to give you some options that are easy to work with.

good luck!

[Martzia Ely 1]

1 minute ago, Losingit2018 said:

If I were in your shoes, I would contact the surgeon that you plan to use and ask for their advice. They are experienced dealing with insurance companies n your area. They may be able to give you some options that are easy to work with.

good luck!

Thank you so much. I've thought about that as well, I will call their office in the morning and see what they say. financing for me would be a big struggle, but not as much of a struggle the weight is so if it comes down to my only option, well, then that's my option lol.

[Losingit2018 1,170]

This list may help you as well

https://www.bariatric-surgery-source.com/insurance-that-covers-bariatric-surgery.html

nit sure if you would be open to going to Mexico for surgery but many, many people that don’t have coverage do just that. There are very competent drs there.

Edited January 9, 2020 by Losingit2018

[Losingit2018 1,170]

There is also a place in Vegas called blossom bariatric that is supposed to be good and much less expensive. If it comes down to self pay.

[Martzia Ely 1]

12 minutes ago, Losingit2018 said:

There is also a place in Vegas called blossom bariatric that is supposed to be good and much less expensive. If it comes down to self pay.

Thank you again! I will look into these options as well

[momof3_angels 465]

There are plenty of insurances that will cover bariatric surgery. You will just need to research the insurances available to you and see which ones have the best coverage. That said... you will probably have to wait for a period of time before they will cover a pre-existing condition. Medicare and Medicaid cover it. I have Federal BCBS and many BCBS do cover it. But I suggest looking at the insurance section of this site... you might be able to find posts to give you an idea of who covers it. Look for insurances that seem to do better with preventative care, because they are more likely to understand that if you fix the obesity problem now, you are improving the obese patients overall health and fixing and/or preventing other health problems. Of course, this is a new concept for many insurance providers when it comes to bariatric surgery. Medicare/Medicaid/BCBS seem to get it, but I don't know who else does!

[Martzia Ely 1]

On 1/11/2020 at 11:58 PM, momof3_angels said:

There are plenty of insurances that will cover bariatric surgery. You will just need to research the insurances available to you and see which ones have the best coverage. That said... you will probably have to wait for a period of time before they will cover a pre-existing condition. Medicare and Medicaid cover it. I have Federal BCBS and many BCBS do cover it. But I suggest looking at the insurance section of this site... you might be able to find posts to give you an idea of who covers it. Look for insurances that seem to do better with preventative care, because they are more likely to understand that if you fix the obesity problem now, you are improving the obese patients overall health and fixing and/or preventing other health problems. Of course, this is a new concept for many insurance providers when it comes to bariatric surgery. Medicare/Medicaid/BCBS seem to get it, but I don't know who else does!

Yeah I do have a BCBS insurance but it's a plan called MyFloridaBlue, which will not cover it. But I will reach out to them and see what info they could give to me on plans that may cover it. Thank you so much for the info!!