Switching Insurance?

[aldmb2 24]

My initial request was denied by my insurance (BMI lower than 50) & the peer2peer did nothing. My surgeon’s office suggested switching to an insurance that covers the sleeve. I’m not sure how I go about this or how it even would work. Anyone else ever hear or even attempt to do this. I’m fully aware the premium will be outrageous, but it’s better than paying $20k out of pocket.

[IowaAndy 95]

Getting other insurance can at any time be difficult and may be impossible. I know that when I lost my job several years ago and tried to get other insurance besides the cobra that was offered with the same company many would not take me as I was overweight, had hypertension, was borderline diabetic, sleep apnea. When you have medical problems and the more medical problems that you have the harder it will be to get an insurance carrier to take you as a patient. And when you do find someone to take you the premium will be very high.

Best of luck.....I know that I could not afford the cost of my surgery and they wanted close to $40,000. I started checking and ended up going to Mexico and have had not problems and my surgery was Dec 11, 2011

[Liberated Sleeve 148]

I changed insurances at work during Open Enrollment period. I did my research and found out which one did cover WLS. The premiums were higher but overall it was around $350 more a year which wasn't anything compared to self pay even in Mexico. If you don't have insurance at work IowaAndy may be right about finding insurance on your own. If you don't want the Mexico route, which I see nothing wrong with as many people on this forum have done this and had magnificent results, but if it isn't for you I did notice a "Topic" in one of the forums titled "$8000 Self pay in the US" and someone had found a very reputable doctor in the US that was doing the surgery for less because they had moved their business to a different state. You may want to check that out and see if you could get financing.

Good luck on your journey!!

[IowaAndy 95]

I changed insurances at work during Open Enrollment period. I did my research and found out which one did cover WLS. The premiums were higher but overall it was around $350 more a year which wasn't anything compared to self pay even in Mexico. If you don't have insurance at work IowaAndy may be right about finding insurance on your own. If you don't want the Mexico route, which I see nothing wrong with as many people on this forum have done this and had magnificent results, but if it isn't for you I did notice a "Topic" in one of the forums titled "$8000 Self pay in the US" and someone had found a very reputable doctor in the US that was doing the surgery for less because they had moved their business to a different state. You may want to check that out and see if you could get financing.

Good luck on your journey!!

You are lucky at all of the jobs that I have had only offer one insurance coverage policy and not a second to choose from.

[Liberated Sleeve 148]

You are lucky at all of the jobs that I have had only offer one insurance coverage policy and not a second to choose from.

Yes, I do feel very lucky. I work for a good company that does care about their employees and offers a few insurance options. I know alot of people out there are not quite so fortunate!

[terrilynndrew 89]

I switched to a different insurance plan last year during open enrollment so I could get my surgery. One of my co-workers had just had LapBand, so I changed my policy to match his and it took exactly one full year, but I was finally sleeved on 2/20/12! Yay!