Bruce Peter

how do i put a body weight tracker on?

Hi Folks, I have a long tale of woe to tell, but I'm a bit rattled and emotional right now. So if I'm not making sense, please forgive me Went to the O-band center who shares an office in manhattan with new life, new look surgery. My first visit was in July, with 3 subsequent visits for diet, Seotemeber, October and November. In between I had blood tests, a psyche consult, endoscopy, and two sleep studies. The studies yielded me a cpap machine.. To make a long story short, I was approved for sleeve surgery on December 6. That's the good news. The bad news is that I was never told why I needed the above procedures, just "show up for a endo, now a sleep study, now another sleep study, etc". The communication was terrible and when I questioned them they were somewhat elusive about answering me. I understand now, that I needed these tests in order to get an approval. The process did discover sleep apnea, and diabetes. They knew what they were doing and they knew the set way to obtain an approval.Ok, fine. I began to suspect the only reasons for most of these visits was to bilk my insurance company for as much as they could. That the surgery would be icing on the cake, but that they were going to get as much $ as they could in the process. Now let me preface this to say that I was assured on more than one occasion that they would accept insurance as full payment (which I "think" they have.) I'll clarify that later on. So back to approval. Once I was approved they immediately tried to convince me to have the surgery done robotically. I was fine with that until they wanted to fly me to California. I live in NY. They were persistent saying they would fly myself and my wife, put me up in a hotel, then to ambulatory surgery, and finally back to hotel with a nurse to take care of me at no cost to me??. REALLY WTH is that? Anyway, I declined and insisted on having it done here in Brooklyn at the Verbukh medical center. That was a month ago and I haven't heard anything from them since. They will not return my calls. Further the receptionist is curt and difficult. Fed up, I contacted a local surgeon and asked if they would take the case. They will and I'm signing a release for them so they can get the records from Verbukh; who btw, were not thrilled about giving them up. I foresee problems obtain them Now, back to insurance payments I mentioned earlier. I decided to look at my insurance claims today and surprise surprise, Verbukh has billed Aetna over 40K!. Oh but that's not the best art. According to my Aetna, they have only paid about 25K leaving 15K owed ( my co-pay) Now, I have not gotten a bill from Verbukh and I may be wrong, they may simply have billed Aetna, and accepted that as full payment, but 40K?? For three visits, 2 sleep studies, a cpap mating and endo? Are they serious? On the other hand, I may be right and will eventually get a whopper bill. Anyway, thanks for listening. B

Still no communication form this organization. I made the decision to transfer to a local doctor. Started the process today.

I have hep c, so I can't take tylenol either. Motrin upsets my stomach, so I suspect they will give me oxycontin. I'm sure they will give you these meds

Yes, and that's what I think happened. Like I said, I haven't gotten any bills yet. The last visit was in October

Has anyone used the O-Band centers? I'm having a terrible experience with them. Looking tom see if anyone else has used them

Like the title says, how long did you wait for a surgery date once you were approved? I've been waiting a month and it's killing me

It's not tyhe insurance company that's holding me up, it's the surgeon

Thanks for the responses, everyone I have been approved since Dec 6. Still no date yet.

Why nor eat a regular popsicle with sugar?

After nearly 2 months of waiting I decided to call my insurance carrier, Aetna today. They have approved me, and there is a letter of approval in the mail. I sure hope this works for me. The band was a disaster and I'm out of options. I've had an eating disorder since I was a child. I should get a call from my surgeon any day now to schedule a consult and surgery date. I'm excited and worried at the same time. I realize this is only a tool and the I have to establish a new, healthy relationship with food. Wish me luck

It's not really a conversion. I had the ban removed in 2013.

I was joking about the nurse. Blerdgirl, I have been approved and yes, I have met the surgeon. I think I'm going to stay local in Brooklyn

Insurance has approved me for this provider. I can switch to any provider I want, but it's likely to delay things somewhat. The California trip is for Robotics, but they will do it the old fashioned way here, in Brooklyn, i I choose to stay here

Thanks everyone. They are saying they will fly me and my wife out to California, put me up in a hotel, do the surgery at an ambulatory hospital, provide a nurse in a hotel room for a couple days (wink) then send me home. This is through the O-Band center, via the verbukh medical group in Brooklyn.Anyone heard of either of these two?

sweet!

I have a 37.5 BMI with sleep apnea and diabetes. It's been three weeks with no answer yet. I have Aetna. I hope you beat this and get yours covered

I'm waiting now three weeks. No answer yet

I have done all my diet appointments (4 months), gotten a sleep study and a cpcp machine, blood work which turned up diabetes and now I wait for insurance (Aetna) I think my chances are pretty good since I had the band and removed it. I also have two co-morbities with a BMI of ~ 36. It's been two weeks so far. Wish me luck

That's exactly what I plan to do, GreenEyes604

That makes sense. I'm going to send the data in. I don't see a reason why I need to be present . Thanks, guys and gals

I see. They can read that from the card, right? My doctor is in NYC and they are telling me I have to travel to them with the card. I'm annoyed with that. I asked them if I could just send them the data, but they said no. It's a 5 hour round trip in the middle of the day. I don;t see why they need me. The doctor won;t be there anyway, just the staff

The doctor wants me to come back with the memory card for "mandatory compliance"?? Any idea what that is all about?

Phiilips system one, you?

Cpap has been good. I'm still not used to it, but it's getting better.