Hi,

I will pay for my surgery and I am a little concerned that my doctors are not requiring me to do certain things that insurances ask for our own good. For example, I am not required to have a psychological eval, lengthy pre-op diet, more nutritional counseling (only one), and some of the tests that other insurances require. I will talk to my family doctor about this on Wednesday to see if he may recommend some things. But I thought it would be good to get your opinion.

I am readnig an excellent book on WLS and this surgeon talks about the many patients he sees who are not able to cope with WLS because they never worked on psychological issues. Others had hernias or other conditions that could have been detected pre-op.

Thanks!

I think self-pay puts the responsibility for your health on you, rather than on the insurance company and a bunch of professionals who don't necessarily have your best interests at heart.

I think there are very few bandsters that haven't done a six month diet before. A one or two time meeting with a psychologist is not going to fix xx number of years of poor eating habits, bad self-esteem, eating to compensate, or whatever. (The psych meeting will probably rule out surgery for the truly psychotic though.)

My PCP cleared me for surgery based on my relationship with her and my general health. Had she any concerns about my fitness for surgery, we would have addressed those. I'm fortunate that my dietician from a previous diet (lost 90, gained 60) is excited about the surgery for me and is willing to learn about banding and help me.

Except for the cash part, now that I've typed this out, I'm actually proud of myself for taking the self-pay step and what it says about ME taking charge of my weight and health.

Thanks for the question.