Ok, if my insurance refuses to pay for the Lap Band....but WILL pay for gall bladder surgery (which I do need.) Can they both be done at the same time, and insurance pay for at least PART of it?

When I was looking at the sites of the doctors in Mexico, they said they will do gall bladder removal for free if it needed to be done. So, I thought MAYBE this would be one way to have insurance at least cover a portion of it. That said, CAN bariatric surgeons remove gall bladders?

Thanks again!

Stacie

I'm having surgery later this month, and my surgeon is going to take my gall bladder and then do the band. He said that the gall bladder part will probably add an additional 20 minutes to the procedure. Now, my insurance is covering my band, and now my gall bladder. My dr, is a general surgeon with a bariatric specialty (which pretty much all surgeons are) . Hope this helps!

First off, does your gall bladder need removing? I don't think doctors will do unneccessary surgery. But, if it needs to come out, insurance should cover at least the hospital stay and anesthesia. Just maybe not the band itself. The doctor who does my fills, is a general surgeon that also does bariatric surgery. Are you close to MichigaN?

Yes, it needs to come out. I have had a few (what we think are) gallbladder attacks in the last year, and my family doc says it will probably need to come out if the pain continues. However, since my insurance is so bad, I have never had anything done about it.

My sister needed to have her gall bladder out and kept putting it off. When she decided to have the band, she knew she would have to be self pay for that.

She didn't want to have two surgeries so asked if the doctor would remove the gall bladder at the same time. The surgeon told her he would submit the charges for the gall bladder portion to insurance. She was reimbursed the amount the insurance paid. She paid up front for the lap band. She had Tri-Care. She knew she didn't meet their requirements for the band and didn't bother trying.

I was self-pay and had 3 hernias repaired when the lapband was performed. The doc informed me that most likely the insurance wouldn't kick enough in to make a difference. He stated that he had tried to fight that in the past and it was considered insurance fraud. He did bill them and so far all they've paid is for the post op visits to his office that dealt with the hernias. I also contacted the anesthesit's(?spelling) office since I didn't have to prepay them. They did bill the insurance and they covered part of that expense.

Maybe you'll have better luck than I did.

i wanted to have both procedures done at the same time as well, but my surgeon refused, saying the gall bladder removal is a "dirty surgery" and can contaminate what's going on with the band. he couldn't be convinced! i ended up having my gall bladder surgery in august and my band in january, but he said he would be willing to do them a month apart -- i just couldn't finish all my pre-op appointments in time for that.

best,

sarah

Firstly I sympathize with you suffering gallbladder attacks.....there is no pain on earth like it and I swear I;d rather give birth than go through that again (I had gall stones for 20 years and finally had my gall bladder removed 2 years ago).

I know my surgeon wouldn't remove mine during my band op unless it became necessary to revert to open surgery and not key-hole so I had to wait. I know of other surgeons that take it out as a matter of course, especially with the bypass, but again only if done by open surgery so it could be as mentioned in a previous post that the risk of cross infection is too great.

I feel for you though as I know the pain you suffer and the annoyance of the insurance companys must make things worse. Good luck to you.

I have been having attacks for about 5 years, and I too have been putting it off due to pregnancies and fear, mostly fear. My surgeon did say he could do it laproscopicly (sp?) at the same time as the band. I guess it all depends on the surgeon as far as if they will do it or not. My plan way back when was to have them done at the same time because I didn't know if the band would be covered. If you do find someone to them at the same time, even if the insurance won't pay for the band, but they will pay for the gall bladder, something is better than nothing.