As we all know except for the self payers out there the insurance company is the big mean evil machine saying to us poor folks jump monkey jump! Let go through some hoops. Now i have some quality insurance no co pays and they pay 90% of everything so that part i can't complain about. Mind you i pay through the nose for it but my theory is i am coming out ahead cause i know i spend way more than i shell out (socked it to em for $300,000 in 2009) but i digress..
I started of going to St mary's bariatric center in louisville and go though my first seminar and met with a surgeon. They told me i fit the requirements of BMI and co morbities. MY bmi was not high enough on its own (38). The only main requirement was a 3 month supervised diet. So I am of to my GP and she is very pro lap band cause she knows i a medical time bomb.
So 2 months pass and my wife who in nursing school gets to talking to some teachers about the lap band and telling them I am going to St marys and they go you mean Dr. Dirty hands? huh ????????!!!!??? Well apparently they are not to clean over there so I make the move over to Suburban Bariatric center which is brand new place and I talk to them and i find out my insurance needs 6 months (st marys cant ever read apparently) So i start the extra months of diet.
In the mean time i get some of my pre stuff out of the way THe nutritionist , and the psych eval. These are done at the bariatric center. Now at my first appointment they charged me $300 for lack of a better term membership fee. What does the $300 get unlimited access to the nutritionist, psych doctor, hookers and blow ;) and unlimited fills!!!! for the life of the band score! after the meeting i am labeled sane enough to loose weight next step meet the surgeon.....
I know it seems like a long time but it'll fly by. I'm glad that I had to do 6 months of the doc because I was 110% ready to do this when the time came. Just do all your stuff and never miss an appointment.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I nominated you for an award so please check out my recent post. :)
Thank you :):) i will check it as soon as i get done here.
ReplyDeleteI just realized I never told my band date which Nov 17th I am playing blog catch up :)
I am not seeing your new post
ReplyDeleteAfter jumping through 80 insurance hoops, I ended up self-paying for the vertical sleeve gastrectomy after getting denied for lap band. My BMI was 39.4 when I started the process and they wanted a BMI of 40---I was 4 pounds short. Also, they wanted 3 high blood pressure meds and I was only on 2. But after six months, I'd lost 30 lbs and had no interest getting fat enough to qualify so I paid out of pocket and changed to a maintenance free surgery (mostly to save money in the long run). Anyway, I'm happy for you and you're surgery date will be here before you know it!!
ReplyDeleteJim, go to my blog at http://bandipes.blogspot.com and it's the post titled the versitile blogger award. :) yay for getting a date! Ive also posted some of my pre op recipes so hope you find it helpful.
ReplyDelete