I am going to have a EGD done soon to see if i have reflux and a hiatal hernia.I am pretty sure I do.I am hoping that if I do i can get it repaired and including the lapband as secondary.My insurance has an exclusion on WLS.

FWIW they rarely repair Hiatal hernias. I have one. It was discovered when I had the testing for my Gall Bladder issues.

I don't know the actual cost of the band.

It seems highly unlikely that they would do a hernia repair as a primary and just tack on a band. I have never heard of this before, but I do know that it goes in the opposite direction where they add a band and fix a hiatal hernia as a secondary.

Please let us know how it goes and what they say.

i have kind of done some digging around and was told that this was possible.the first step was to get the EGD done.Reflux is my primary issue.get it repaired which would take outpt surgery anyway.

I was told this is possible. But, frankly the insurance company decides how much of the procedure is for the band versus the other, and after prorating everything it would have cost me more.

Why?

Because the cash pay route for the lapband procedure using cash was cheaper then using insurance. Using insurance made the same exact procedure cost more, therefore the part the insurance company would pay was eaten up by the cost difference of cash pay versus insurance. This is why many places advertise a "cash price"....it isn't the same as what they charge the insurance company.

This may not be true for all places that perform the lapbands, but it was in my case?

It is like that everywhere. My sister and I used the same Dr. But she paid Cash and I had Insurance. She paid 15,000 cash and had 1 yr after care for free and Cigna paid 32,000 for mine and have to pay for all my fills. So if I had to pay 50% of that I would have been paying the same as someone paying cash.