Becbec

lisa, awesome thought on obamacare! if all else i may have to wait till jan. when its in full effect. i have kaiser permanente it is a huge health care company all over the country. they provide and cover bariatric sx. just not the lapband. however they did say maybe in jan. if they found a doctor they would be covering it. but maybe they will be covering it due to health reform & thats why they looking for a doctor & change the insurance benifits coverage. i will keep u informed.

does anyone have any info.... i was banded. now have kaiser which does not cover band. they will refer if you have medicade or something like that. i really need a unfill. about 1x every6-8wks. i get food stuck and cant eat or drink or swallow my saliva for 2-3 days. kaiser bariatric dept office told me they will not refer, but they will remove the band completly. =-( thats so not what i want or need. i called other places for cash pricing.....they said they have kaiser patients and think it is weird the surgeons wont refer me. i heard maybe if i was seen by GI. then GI can refer me. any insight? thoughts? facts! thanks. sx oct 2011 279lbs. today 225lbs. i had lots of complications along the way. lots of reflux, food stuck. i cant seem to eat greens without them getting stuck and blocking. its horrible when i am so weak and cant function good from poor nutrition and no or little Water intake for several days. finally when the swelling from reflux & throwing up goes down, then i slowly tolerate warm broth. and work my way back from there. i cant live like that thought. thanks again.

oh and basically there are no doctors in the ED that would be able to unfill in and emergency. they would have to call in the doctor that is oncall that has privillages w/ their ED. so i would get a huge emergency bill & then a huge bill from the specialty lapband MD. i am a single mom & cant afford that, yet make "too much" to qualify for financial help. =-( but if it gets that bad, of course i will be in the ED.

the er has been a thought for final last resort. if it ever last longer than 3 days i will defenitly go in! it would be where i got the band. i can pay cash for unfill it is about $400 total. i priced 5 different hospitals locally. I did speak with the insurance & told them to give me options. they said they would send a list of outside recommended MD, or i can get surgery to remove band. why would they want to spend that much $$ for sx. instead of a smaller amount for an unfill/fill. crazy people. so if i had $$$ any MD would help me.

to clw: when i say refer, i mean with lots of insurances (kaiser is mine) your primary doctor has to refer you to see any specialist before you can see them. since kaiser doesnt do lapband in oregon, the kaiser bariatric surgeons would have to refer me to another hospital with lapband sx. i tried that...i & my primary doctor were told no. they cant refer for lapband. however member services said if i see a gastrointerologist, and they could refer me. i think its weird that 1 specialist has the power to refer, but not the other. well..........i pray that the GI doctor is allowed to refer me so i can begin the probably long process of denial & appeal. not sure if thats how it works, or if GI deams it medically necessary that i automatically get approved to another hospital?

did u ever get referred? i too switch to kaiser. im having a heck of time to figure out how to get an unfill. they just said they will sx remove band. ugh! i just heard that if you are referred to GI, they can refer you to a lapband surgeon outside kaisser. but the kaiser sx in portland will not refer.

Last night was first time reading one of these groups. I haven't been a part I them or the monthly person to person groups. I asked dr. About mucus and she said to talk to other people on here n see what they go through. I am goin to try warm fluids for next 2 days. I can't make to dr. Till Tuesday anyway. I don't have sinus issues or post nasal drip. So curious is anyone out there goes through this. I can't pin it to specific foods. It's good to know the more I throw up to worse. I will try let stomach calm down.

Sx was in oct. have 5cc total now. 1.5 week after 3rd fill super tight. I've always had problems of thick clear phlem producing in throat/stomach and needing for me to force it up as it clogs n hurts. Now that happening all day. I was eating chicken, salad, liquids. Yesterday that changed. I can't consistently keep water down. I want to do my best n wait. This is worst fill yet but was fine for a whole week after. Why now? Thoughts same experiences? Please share. I am tired of shoving finger so I can spit up liquids as this phlem builds even with plain water. Yuck