it also depends how bad it is... i'm lucky cos i wasnt really big to start with and i am still in my 20s o hopefully it wont effect me... but a family friend who had the banding done and lost over 60kgs has had recontructive surgery (arms, tummy, thighs) and this was all covered on HBF for her... its a really expensive and painful procedure too- so something you might want to think about... i have another friend (a guy) that is having it done in March, he is actually going to a Perth doctor who also works in Thailand a few months of the year- it was gonna cost him something crAzy like $30,000 to have it done here and the same doc is doing it in Thailand for $12,000!! including a face lift, turkey neck tummy tuck etc.. so there are other avenues if your health insurance wont cover!
And if you go to thailand you get a nice relaxing holiday out of it too!!! hehe... they are really good over there too, clean, luxury hospitals, nothing to worry about like the crap you see/hear on the media. :tongue: