Hello! I am from Virginia, too, and just made a seminar appt for July 29th. I will be self-pay and hope to have everything over with soon. I have been reading and reading and reading about gastric banding for 2 years and have already attended 2 seminars, but they were over a year ago so I have to do yet another one. Oh well. But I am tired of relying on insurance, so I will find some way to pay..haha.