New (again!)

[Dawn 16]

I joined this site a LONG time ago to get information and support my husband who was looking into LapBand at that time. Well things didn't go as planned and he wasn't able to have it (He was active duty military at the time). Well now things are very different, for both of us and we are both looking into it now (he has been medically retired). We both have appointments with a surgeon in October. We know there should be no problem with him but I am not as overweight as he is but enough and I have very high cholesterol.

So here I am again, needing as much information as I can get to be able to make informed decisions for our family!

[maxi2010 0]

I joined this site a LONG time ago to get information and support my husband who was looking into LAP-BAND® at that time. Well things didn't go as planned and he wasn't able to have it (He was active duty military at the time). Well now things are very different, for both of us and we are both looking into it now (he has been medically retired). We both have appointments with a surgeon in October. We know there should be no problem with him but I am not as overweight as he is but enough and I have very high cholesterol.

So here I am again, needing as much information as I can get to be able to make informed decisions for our family!

Hi Dawn. Welcome back!

Most insurance companies will reimburse you for lap band and other weight loss surgeries if your BMI is 40 or above, If your BMI is between 35 and 39.9 and you have at least 2 co-morbidities that are caused by your obesity they will also likely to reimburse you. They will also require you to go through a 6-month supervised weight loss program, see a psychologist, go to an info session, meet with a nutritionist and a few other hoops. My insurance denied my surgery although I presented with 2 comorbidities (hypertension and high cholesterol). They wanted a third one. When I presented a 3rd one that they agreed was at least partially caused by being overweight, they approved my surgery. My lap band surgery is scheduled for Friday, 9/17. My whole experience in getting approval took close to 2 years,

Best of luck to you and your hubby. Don't give up the fight because you find it will take a while to get approved. The wait is worth it. If you stick with it and follow your insurance procedures to the letter, you will be approved....eventually, provided they say you fall within their criteria. If not, there is always Mexico. Procedures are performed at about half the cost of US procedures and many of the women here have had it done there and are quite happy with the results. Maxi:thumbup:

Best of luck in your pursuit of taking your life back into your hands through lap band surgery.