Surgery PPD due to Covid, will insurance cover it?

[BeeRodMul 1]

I was scheduled to have surgery on Monday. But yesterday, I received my results and is diagnosed with COVID19. I am going through the proper protocol to get retested and hope for a negative soon. However, this is a chance once I am negative and restart the liquid diet, my surgery is pushed to January. If the surgery happens as planned, my insurance was going to pay for it 100% since I reached my OOP max. Now that it’s pushed back, that would mean I will have to pay for the deductible and possible coinsurance. Anyone had gone through this? What is happening now is making me change my mind about surgery after going through the process since August.

[AZhiker 2,251]

A couple of years ago when I had surgery, I was really pushing for a December surgery date, for insurance reasons like yours. But, due to being denied by insurance (because my doctor office lost some reports and didn't submit them), I had to go through the appeal process (after I produced my own copies of the reports!), which delayed my surgery til Feb. I was not happy about that, but let me tell you, it worked out. Surgery cost is not the final expense. In my case, I had an ER visit for blood clots, a couple more scopes due to an ulcer and follow up from a Barretts polyp discovered pre op, and then there were more non surgery related medical expenses as well. So I met my deductable and OOP max in 2019 instead of 2018.

I think you have to hang in there and just see it through to the end, whether that is in 2020 or 2021. You pay now or you pay later, but chances are you will meet your deductible one year or the other. Keep in mind the reasons why you want the surgery. The risks of obesity are life threatening, and the older you get, the less quality of life there is as an obese person. WLS is ALWAYS a royal pain on the pre-op side, but the end results are so worth it in the long run.

I hope you get a negative test real soon and that you remain symptom free. Hang in there! The race does not go to the fastest, but to the one who perseveres.

[GradyCat 3,692]

First of all, I'm so sorry you have COVID and I wish you the best recovery. That being said, yes, you'll be out your OOP for it being rescheduled to next year. But it's worth it.

[Guest]

Sorry but a new year means a new deductible, etc. I hope you get a negative test soon.

[Guest]

Did your surgeon not tell you that you needed to quantine before surgery? I had surgery recently (not WLS) and was told to it would be best to quantine for 7 to 10 days prior to it.

[catwoman7 10,851]

probably - but like someone else said, you'll either pay the deductible this year or next, so...you'll probably come out the same in the long run. I meet my deductible ($250) every year - even in years when I don't have any major health events. So if you're the same, you'll just meet it faster in 2021 than you usually do - as in, you will have probably met your annual deductible in January due to the surgery - then everything else next year will be covered (well, except for co-pays.....)