audreycat123

ok here's another one, you guys are awesome, I have asked my surgon's office coordinator three separate times if I am covered and i was assured that they would not have set up the appointments if i were not. However, when I call Anthem directly they state that i have an exclusion on my policy, twice they have said this. Is the doctor's office just trying to rope me in, get me all excited for change, and they tell me i would have to self pay?That seems dirty. plus there is no way on Earth that I can self pay for this surgery. Surely the coordinator knows what she is doing and was able to get around the exclusion with some jargony tech med speak? When I call i just ask if weight loss surgery is covered.

arrgh, I can't find any sort of weight management or obesity section anywhere! Man I sure hope I don't have to go back to thinking i have to lose all this weight all by myself. That has soooo NOT worked!

this is what I found online under "exclusions" for my specific policy. What do you guys think? Plastic, reconstructive, gastric bypass or cosmetic surgery except: as connected with mastectomy (see the section entitled Medical Benefits) > to the extent needed to improve the function of a part of the body (with the exception of teeth or the structure that supports the teeth) that is malformed as a result of a birth defect, disease, or surgery performed to treat a disease or injury • Procedures, services, drugs and other supplies that are determined to be experimental or still under clinical investigation by health professionals

So I've had my initial consult and have a half dozen appointments set up between now and October. Hoping for surgery in November. My BMI is currently 41. I have been reading here about a lot of weight lost during pre-op diets and such. I feel that if i don't start on some sort of diet my brain will tell me to eat my frekin head off before surgery as some sort of farewell to food. I don't want to do that. I have always been able to bust my butt and lose twenty or so pounds if i had to, but i gain it back within a few weeks. If i start a diet and go into surgery with a lower BMI will my insurance deny me? My surgeon did not discuss any co-morbidities since my BMI was over 40. Thoughts?

I met for my first consultation last Friday and was told I was a perfect candidate for Lapland. I had already researched and thought about the surgery extensively. I was then told that my insurance covered the surgery. Great! Let's do this! Then they gave me a schedule of about six different appointments with different people and told I could be scheduled for surgey after the very last appointment...in late November! If my insurance does not require a waiting period, then why would the surgeon? I am wanting to get pregnant six months after being banded, but i am already almost 36. I feel like I am racing against my biological clock and now I have to push pause for five months. Any ideas or suggestions?

thanks fran, you make an excellent point. no one would suggest that heart surgery is a "tool" for staying healthy. You are right. I appreciate all of your responses and will continue to research this surgery while waiting for November (if i turn up preggers then so be it), but so far when i weigh all of the bad things that i discover with all of the good things that i discover, i become even more confident that lapband could be one of the most important tools i could get to make me a healthier, happier person. and a better mother to boot. (i doubt the band will ever make me a more patient person though!) happy to have found these boards - sara

what an awesome question! I have also had 2 c-sections and was trying to anticipate how banding would compare. I am glad to hear it's not as complicated a recovery as that can be. I would imagine it would be on par with gallbladder surgery, which was also done outpatient and with a scope. it was super duper easy compared to even my planned c-sections. I am also a teacher hoping to be banded asap though. wishing you a great start to the new school year! Maybe by next winter we will be the teachers with the cool boots and cute outfits!

I want to take my kids to a water park. They would so love that. I want to wear anything but the damn floor length purple tent of a dress that has been my only decent going out outfit for the last three freakin years! I want to walk to the park with my sister without feeling like the gross fat sister. Going up or down any stairs without wincing!

Thanks to all of you for your responses and concern. One of my main questions to the doc during consult was how long should I wait before trying to conceive after surgery and he said that around six months should be enough. That's how I came up with that time frame. I was an overweight overeater for my last pregnancy and I really don't want to feel that way again. My knees are in terrible shape, they hurt all the time, and I know that I will feel better and be healthier after this surgery. I will try to wait patiently I guess, but I don't understand why I must wait so long for a procedure that is to improve my health. No one would advocate a patient waiting for heart surgery just to prove that they are serious about changing their lifestyle. I want to get my new life started now. It seems frivolous to make me wait for no medical reason.