CamarilloCA

Hi Dorrie! I called, and they fit me in at 3:30 p.m. today. Fingers crossed that I get a referral to Barriatrics. Thanks for the encouragement!

Thank you, Sleeve4me. I just hope that they don't make me go to the Options Class in Los Angeles because that is too far to drive for me. I appreciate all the help. I will update this thread to let you all know what happens. I so appreciate the information and support. I am just so anxious and upset, and my abdominal pain won't seem to let up.

Thanks so much, Dorrie! I will do that on Monday. Thank you, Bionic! That is so awesome that you could do it all in two weeks. That's very reassuring. I hope I am as lucky as you were. Thanks again.

Hi Bionic, thank you so much for responding. You have given me hope now. Can you tell me some more information about how you went about getting them to cover it? Did you have to have a BMI over 40 or over 30 with some other serious condition? Did you have pain and go to your PCP? Did they make you go through a program of theirs first? Sorry for all the questions, but I am anxious about this. I have stomach pain all the time and can't imagine living with it for six months while I fight for them to cover this.

I feel your pain here. I self-paid also for a lap band -- a total of $15,000, which included life-time fills. I did qualify for the lap band through my insurance, but they wanted me to do a weight loss program of theirs first, which would require driving into Los Angeles once a week for six months, which I couldn't do. I have had my lap band for four years and regret it also. I throw up at nearly every meal and recently had all the Fluid taken out. I'm trying to see if my insurance company, Kaiser Permanente, will cover the removal of the band and revision to the sleeve. I think Kaiser insurance is pretty good in general if you have the option to get that insurance. If you opt to go to Mexico, I think you will have to self-pay as I don't know of any insurance that would cover surgery in Mexico, but they most likely will be less expensive than having surgery here. I would think that your best bet is to see your primary care physician about your lap band problems and request that he refer you to a bariatric surgeon for revision surgery.