Attended the Wellbourne Seminar. Opted against it because of the requirement by Dr Wellbourne for the patient to pay $4500 up front. I have Federal BC/BS which pays all but $100 copays for the hospital stay as well as the surgery. When questioning the staff at the seminar about this, they seemed to get snippy about it. I guess they prefer to only take patients who are self-pay so they can gouge the hell out of them. My wife and I both are going to undergo the lap-band procedure. We would have to cough up $9,000. We are opting for Dr. Baker instead who requires no money up front.

I had LapBand surgery on 04/08/09 by Dr. John Baker. He is an excellant doctor/surgeon. I have nothing but great things to say about him and I believe you will be very satisified with him. He is very caring and concerned and as long as your compliant with what you're suppose to do, he's behind you 10000%! I just had my 2nd fill last week and I have the 11cc Realize Band. He does a great job on the fills too... gives me a deadening shot and then I don't feel a thing. He is very careful to not overfill... don't get discouraged if you have to wait a while in the waiting room though, once you're back there, he'll take the same amount of time with you. Best of luck to you both!

I also have Federal BCBS, and will be banded 7/2. Dr. Wellbourne appears to be more interested in ripping people off than patient care. Did you ask him or his staff why the surcharge?