Hey, everyone. I had my consult today with the surgeon I want to use.... first off, let me say kudos to everyone in Dr. Avara's office in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. They were all fantastic! They took so much time with each one of us today and just made you feel so great and welcomed. AND they didn't even charge for today's visit!! WOO-HOO! There were 4 or 5 of us there for consults today and first they separately got all our weights, etc., gave us some info and then took us all as a group into kind of a little mini-informational seminar. They were very knowledgeable. After that we all went into separate rooms and they came in to do our work-ups (for lack of a better term) and separate consults.

Here's where the bad news comes in. :-( My insurance company, BCBS of AL, does not cover the band, as many don't. The total charge to have the surgery there is $15,000, which I'm sure is not bad, unless of course you have bad credit and no home to put a second mortgage on.... which would be me! So! Now I don't know what to do! If anyone is cleaning out their pockets while they're putting away their winter clothes and happens to come across an extra 15 grand lying around and can't figure out what to do with it... send me a message! I can help you use that!

So, basically, I have a few options now... I can either self pay or fight the insurance company and regardless of whether BCBS of AL decides to cover the surgery or not, I have to be on a diet for 6 mths, supervised by a physician. This, too, is no surprise. BUT! What if the stupid diet works?! What if I loose just enough weight in that 6 months to no longer qualify for the surgery?! I just don't know if I can go through the emotional devestation of loosing weight and gaining it all back again. And I know that sounds completely negative and like I've given up but I've been doing this for half my life. I loose the weight, keep it off for a little while and then gain it back with interest... I absolutely can't do that again. THEN by the time I gain it back again, I will have been outside of the time parameters for the supervised diet and have to go through the whole blasted thing again.

Sorry about this little rant, but when I tried it on my mom she didn't really see what the big deal was. I knew everyone here would understand (or at least hoped some would!). Does anyone have any bright ideas? I'm stalled on the road to lap band land and need some serious help.

Oh, and by the way, I told all the ladies at the dr.'s office today about LBT. I told them how great you all have been to me and how much information and knowledge they can gain from this site. Maybe we'll see them on here, too!

Thanks for listening everyone. Your support means the world to me!

Stalled but not giving up!!!!

Hope

you could do what alot of us selfpayers did and go to Mexico where it was a bit cheaper-I payed $9000-try this company-I know you said you had bad credit but doesnt hurt to try-they seem like a good finance option-medicredit 1-800-963-6334

Hi Hope,

Sorry your in this dilemma. I was exactly in your shoes. I had BCBS of Oregon for 20 years and they would never cover anything weight loss related and then my husbands employer switched everyone to OEA Choicetrust and they weren't any better about covering it. I was so devestated when it all looked hopeless. I cried for 6 months, kept coming back here to visit and research and then out of the blue my father in law offered to take out a loan to help me go to Mexico for it. Today I feel like my insurance company should pay me for getting healthier no thanks to them. I never bothered trying to fight the insurance company but others have succeeded. I also have seen the website www.obesitylaw.com. Anyway best wishes and let me know what happens. Teresa

Have you appealed their decision? I've heard from many lapbanders whose insurance would pay for WLS, but not the band. They said it was investigational. It's done. Alot of them won on appeal.

As far as self pay goes, I did it too...in Omaha, Nebraska for $14,000 total. If you self-pay, look into all your options:

home equity loan

2nd mortgage

refinance house

401(k) loan

credit card - i got one for no interest for 15 months, so I put on there what I knew I could pay back in 15 months

tax return

There are options and you don't have to pick 1. I put 1/2 on a credit card and 1/2 in a 401(k) loan. Used my tax return to pay back part of the credit card and am paying on the 401(k) loan every month.

jayme

15k ???

How does 10k sound? Thats what I paid to http://www.wishcenter.org/

add $700 for the gas Doc (billed later) so 10,000 will get you done here (Chicago)

Can you sell any assets or ask family for a small gift

10 people for $1,000

20 people for $500

40 people for $250

you get the idea if your really want it you will find a way.

I didn't have the money either. But I started counting up how much my obestity costs me, and I figured I could pay that off within two years. My fast food bill alone could pay for a Mexican band in less than 3 years. My co-payments, prescriptions. plus-size clothing, etc. So I took a loan out against my house and paid $7,500. Then I stopped getting manicures and fired the kid that does my lawn and cut Star Bucks down to once a week. That was enough money to make the monthly payment.

If you really want the Band, you'll find a way to make it work. Good luck.

By the way, the Band was the best investment I've made so far.

Hi - I have the same insurance. I borrowed most of the money from my 401k - and the rest came from savings. I'm two days post-op and very glad I did it.

I was also self pay. I did it here and the cost was 12500. Of course, the add'l costs are coming in (pre-tests, etc) so I expect it to be closer to 14000. I am using 0% credit card, refinancing vehicles, borrowing, begging, etc.

I am glad I did this. I will find a way to pay it off. The long term savings on my health, shoes (that wear out faster from my excess weight), bigger clothes, etc will help. I also teach college classes for a second job so I'm going to increase the number of classes I teach.

Think of what you will save in food bills, eating out, etc. Think of how much better you will feel. And when you are down in the dumps from being broke, email me and we can whine together. Celeste

"What if the stupid diet works?! What if I loose just enough weight in that 6 months to no longer qualify for the surgery?!"

That's the problem. Of course, if you could keep losing on a diet alone, you wouldn't be looking into a band in the first place -- but try explaining that to an insurance company.

It looks as if you've already figured out your choices: (1) Go ahead with the doctor-supervised diet for six months, see what happens, and possibly get a band courtesy of your insurance company -- or get turned down; (2) self-pay. There's no easy answer here, as the other posts attest. Only you can decide.

I'm a self-payer, thanks to a home-equity loan. I'll be paying it off for quite a while. But I too believe that this was the best investment I've ever made.

Most of us on this board are self-payers and since most of us are NOT independantly wealthy we all had to find a way to make this happen. As you can see most of us had to travel to Mexico to have our bands, ideally I would have preferred to stay in the states because of convenience and most of all suing power, but most Mexican doctors have more band experience than most US doctors. Some doctors here don't even have an idea of what the band is. So you see, you have been given lots of creative ways to get your band, try the diet, and in the meantime save, save and save some more. If you lose alot of weight on your diet and become a lower BMI you can still travel to Mexico and get your band so that you can maintain the lost weight, so that is a plus. Some of us have paid as little as $6000 in Mexico, I know I did. so you see there is hope and if you have to wait a little longer, well try to be patient, good things come to those who wait.

Meantime we are here for you. Keep us posted on your progress.

I don't know that most of us are self pay. My DH and I were both covered by his insurance. But if we had had to be self pay for his band, we would have done that. Not so sure about me because I wasn't convinced that I was really that fat. (yeah, I know.)