Travel24

This was a very timely topic for me as I was had similar conversations regarding cost with my dr office today. My company as well has an exclusion, no plans to change according to HR and since I am lucky enough to have a great job that I have no plans of leaving I am in a self pay situation. I have to be honest, I also balked at the idea but after struggling my whole life with weight I am commited to making this change. I am meeting with my dr tomorrow to determine next steps and surgery date. I am going back and forth between the Sleeve and Gastric Bypass. In terms of cost, like another post, it is important for me to go through a BLIS surgeon to get coverage should something go wrong, so my costs may be higher than others. For GBP it is $22K with BLIS and for Sleeve around $19K with BLIS. Please note I did have all of my prework (nutritional consult, Endoscopy, Pysch evaluation etc) in Nov/Dec and my insurance covered it. Not sure if this will be a factor in terms of addition cost to you. Best of luck. Whatever you decide I hope the New Year brings good health.

That is wonderful news Janerose! Enjoy Vermont and I look forward to hearing how things go. I am Sending good thoughts for Jan 10th!

Hi there - Recently it was confirmed that my insurance does not cover WLS under any circumstances. I had thought that I would go the Gastric Bypass route as that was what I had assumed my insurance would pay. Since they are not covering anything, and I am now a self pay, I back to weighing the differences in terms of Gastric Bypass and the Sleeve. For many reasons the sleeve is much more attractive and is what I am leaning strongly towards. I have an appt with my dr. office to speak options now that I am driving the decision and not insurance in term of surgery options (I have gone through all of the Center of Excellence criteria - meetings, phsy evaluation, 3 months nutritional, support meetings etc). From a health standpoint, both are good options but I personally lean towards the Sleeve because of low Iron issues I have had for many years. So, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with self pay in the US - CT/NY/NJ area in particular - that they would be willing to share. While cost is not the driver in terms of what I decide, I was wondering if anyone had a perspective on both as well (I assume they are the similar). Thanks for reading and really appreciate any comments, advice or info you can provide.

Janerose - just spoke to Kelley and she was great. Thanks for the recommendation. She was so helpful and really informative. These discussions are not easy and I have to say she made me feel really comfortable. I will let you know how it goes but thanks again!

Thanks for the info Janerose! I will give them a call! Much appreciated!

Thank you both for the reply. I have heard great things about Mexico - glad to hear things went well for you. And while it must have been tough to have a hernia issue, it's great that you were able to get some of it applied to the sleeve. Appreciate the replies and the willingness to share your experience. I am hopeful that I will be joining you both soon!