Cali Sal

Just found out I'll be getting banded on October 19th. It all happened soooo fast, I just saw my surgeon for the first time last week on Sep 16th. This week I'm have my psych eval and cardio test. I'm excited and a little nervous but I know it's for the better.

Hi All, I've looked up a couple of doctors here in the surrounding LA area and found that some have "Program Fees" so I did a little search here in the forums and found that these are basically ways for surgery centers to get more money out of us. I haven't met with any doctors yet however I did reserve a spot in seminars for Dr. Oliak, in Orange County, who I've learn has a $4500 program fee and the other doctor is Dr. Pehrsson, out of Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, but I haven't seen anything about program fees. My issue with this is that I have a PPO insurance with a high deductible and co-pay max, why should I have to pay additional fees to the doctor that my insurance won't cover? So my question is, can you please recommend a few doctors that you know do not have any programs fees? If you know the geographic area of so cal, I'll go anywhere from Long Beach to LA, Pasadena and out to Orange County. I live in El Monte which is in the middle of these cities.

I meet my surgeon this Thursday and I've noticed people mention that they've scheduled other doctors appointments (ie pych eval) before meeting with their surgeon for the first time. Is this something I should consider? Should I call my surgeons office and ask about this? I need to have the surgery before the end of the year to avoid repaying my deductible.

I think that is the standard response from the insurance companies. Medically necessary is deemed by your doctor and I think the standard for that is 40+ BMI OR 30+ BMI with co-morbidities. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

I have Blue Shield of California. I'm a little worried about proving I've been over weight for 5 years. I didn't have insurance during college so I could probably only go back 2-3 years. I don't know if my insurance has that 5 year requirement....and really I'm not sur if BSBC is the same as BS of CA. I have an appointment with my surgeon schduled for Sep 16th.

I wanted to update this post just in case there are others like me that refused to pay the "program fee" some doctors try and charge. I attended at seminar with two doctors; Dr. Katkhouda & Dr. Crookes both excellent doctors you can do futher research on them if you'd like. They work for USC University Hospital (NOT LA County, which is also next to USC). There is no Program Fee and they are both highly regarded. I chose Dr. Katkhouda, fyi. They say right up front that there are no additional cost outside of what your insurance pays them. I recommend anyone looking for a good doctor to look up when USC Hospital is putting on another seminar.

Good luck, I just scheduled my 1st appointment today but I have to wait 'till Sep. 16th. Little disappointed by that, since I'm so anxious to get the ball rolling.

I'm in the exact same shoes as you. I have a $2250 deductible and I also have a knee surgery scheduled this week. So I don't want to pay my deductible & co-pay max twice. I just attending my seminar this past saturday and called to schedule my first appointment with my WLS Doctor this morning. I'm in CA and have Blue Shield of California. In CA we don't have any mandatory 6-month supervised diet so I asked the scheduling nurse how long is the process between first doctors visit and the actual surgery because it's vital that I get this done by 12/31/10, she said that it will be 2-3 months. That would put me between Nov 15 and Dec 15.

YES! I'm merely attending the seminar this week and I've increased my eating. It's a bad attitude to have because I'm basically saying, "oh well, I'll lose the weight once I'm banded". I didn't get this way by eating like a bird, but I've def noticed I'm eating more this last week or so.

I just looked up Dr. Feiz and signed up for the free-seminar in Long Beach, happy to see there was one so close to my job. So I have 3 seminars set up over the next 2 weeks with recommended doctors, only one I've seen any mention of program fees however other people have said they weren't charged any. I guess I'll find out

Thank you so much for the recommendation, I will def look him up!

Anyone? I've emailed my insurance rep to let her know that some doctors are trying to charge me on top of what my insurance will cover. I'm hoping she will direct me to a doctor but I'd like some feedback from people that have had the procedure. Thanks in advance.

ME TOO! Maybe you two are a couple of weeks ahead of me but I just started calling doctors that I found being recommended on this forum. I have 1 semimar scheduled for Aug 18th and I'm waiting for my new insurance # so I can schedule another seminar. Like both of you I'm excited and nervous.