I am in the process of shopping for personal health insurance. Which insurances are most low BMI band friendly? Any thoughts or suggestions?

My BMI is just under 36 and I have documented foot problems from the weight. Would that count as a co-morbidity? Or is a co-morbidity something that is life threatning? And is a PPO more band friendly or a HMO?

I don't know of any private insurances that cover WLS. It's almost always excluded. It's the same if you get it through a company and the company has less than 100 employees.

Every insurance is different on what counts as a co-morbidity. Generally it has to be something like hypertension, high cholesterol, GERD, sleep Apnea or Type II diabetes. Some insurance companies only count some of those if medicine isn't doing a good job of controlling it. Thinks like foot problems (which I also have) aren't considered enough to approve the surgery, but every little think you have like that can help -- it paints a picture that the surgery is medically necessary for you.

Have you gone to your insurance company's web site and searched for their Bariatric Surgery Policy? Some companies really spell it out and make it easy to see if you qualify.