I don't want to put a damper on things but I would think twice about self paying. I had my lapband surgery 4/27. I am very healthy with the exception of my weight. My medical clearance indicated I had no heart or other health issues. To make a long story short, my blood pressure went down during the surgery and they had a hard time bringing it back up. I was in recovery for about 6 hours. It finally came back up and I am totally ok but I ended up spending the night in ICU. So far, the doctors and hospital have sent in claims amounting to almost $49,000. The hospital claim was $40,500. I'm sure there are more claims to come. I'm very nervous because I will have to pay 15% of whatever the insurance allows and right now I don't know how much that is. If I were self paying I would be in a panic. You just never know what could happen. However, regardless of how much I end up paying I am very excited about the future.