HI ya'll, sorry about not being on too much. June 17 is the end of everything for my quarter at school and got upteen projects to finish up before then, like 1000 frame animation for finals, 5 part project for my character Pogo, the blue kanagaroo, lol anyway my mom emailed aetna and told her that they would have to check with the doctor to see if it's good for me?! HEHE im soo excited, im confident Aiden will find this surgery healthy for me, although she likes to stress exercise, i walk a lot but my eating habits suck, i dont drink coke, but only once in a while, but i tend to overeat anything, hell i'll overeat a salad, but my find has been fixed with this so, im not always eating junk food, but then again we're in America, what do you expect?

So I will see if i can print out as much information as possible, and try to compare, gastric to lapband, and talk about all the pros and cons about it. But at least aetna didnt say flat out that they couldnt cover, they just said to see with the doctor if its good for me, I mean come on, if smaller people can get it why can't I?

I just want a little help with this...

How would you convince the My doctor that it would be right for me, and a better alternative.

I once knew a friend that had gastric bypass but she wasn't that fat looking before, but whatever, Thx in advance for the help, i won't be home until after 8 or 9 ... got class late...ttyl!

Well I think if your ins co. covers both procedures band and GBP. It ultimately should be up to you which surgery you want to have. My dr. said I offer both... here are the pros and cons and I will not make the decision for you. You must feel comfortable with the one you choose. The band was my choice right from the start.The pros deffinatly out weighed the cons for me.

I think the main thing the dr and ins wants to know is if your bmi is high enough/what comorbities you have... high blood pressure ect..

Joe, Aetna has a stated policy of only covering the band if bypass is contraindicated for some reason. That means that they may think you're a great candidate for weight-loss surgery, but UNLESS you have some reason that you CAN'T have the bypass, that's going to be Aetna's surgery of choice for you. That's going to be the challenge for you and your doctor, showing Aetna that the band is better for you than the bypass.

There are loads of reasons why the band might be preferable, but what you need to do is come up with medical reasons why bypass is not a good procedure for you. Do you have any intestinal or bowel issues? Any weakness or immune issues that could pose a risk to you as you proceed with RNY? That's MAJOR surgery in a way that lap-band is not, so if you have any reasons to think it poses a risk to you, write 'em down.

Good luck!!

thx for ur responses...this will help me as i get closer to being a bandster!