Did having lapband put a huge financial burden on you?

derbygirl · November 16, 2006

I'm a cash patient and I feel like I've sacrified everything, financially, to have this lapband surgery. Before the surgery I was concerned that I'd need a lot of support for the weight loss journey, but it seems like that's been the easy part.

I'm in a position where I need to sell my house and rent an apartment. And because of that I'm having to find a new home for my pets. I'm getting calls from creditors, which is something I've never had to deal with...and they make you feel like an awful person...like you're trying to pull something over on them.

I don't feel like having this surgery was a mistake, but this is a major consequence that I didn't anticipate.

Is anyone else dealing with this? I'm really depressed and could use some cheering up.

I can't even afford therapy now. :tired

Kat817 · November 16, 2006

Any possibilityof re-financing the house and paying down some fo the debt? I ended up self paying as well, but had an accident prior and used my settlement to pay for it. There have been times I wished I had the cash settlement back, to pay bills. My DH has been off for several months with heart surgery and complications, so bills have piled up. But like you I don't regret it. We had some savings we used...and stuck it out. Talk to your creditors, even if they do try to be ugly, if they are rude ask to speak with someone else, and explain you have hit hard times, and need to make payment arrangements. Having been on the business end of that, I know they would rather have you make a small payment and make it regularly than not make any!

Plus you need to figure out if selling and then renting will actually save you money. It is not a great market right now to sell I have heard...so look over all your options. Possibly a consolidation loan...put everything together and lower your month to month output. As you get back on your feet, you could increase the payment amount.

Maybe even some credit counseling...that keeps creditors happy if they know you are attempting to do something. My niece used one, and it kept her out of bankruptcy.

Good Luck to you...come back for support!!! We are not all independently wealthy---we can relate!!!

Kat

Jachut · November 16, 2006

Not really, but I'm lucky to live in Australia where private health insurance covers it no questions asked.

But I was required to make a one off payment of $3,000 to the surgeon which was not covered by insurance or medicare, and that means that forever, all my aftercare and fills are totally free to me, the surgeon just bulk bills.

$3,000 took some consideration, its not a small amount of money but definitely not life savings, we had it, it just hurt a bit to hand it over, lol.

Big girl banded · November 16, 2006

I took out a small equity line. I will pay for this for ten yrs but luckily it is only 150.00 month and my mortgatge was so cheap that it really doesnt seem like a huge burden, I paid more monthly on my meds that i am no longer taking so it is STILL in my favor.

LapBandit · November 17, 2006

Wow, I'm sorry you're going through this.

Luckily for me, surgery was covered under the insurance. I did have to pay $2,500 for a "program fee" plus follow-up visits cost $30/month. Plus, I'm thrilled to fit into smaller sizes but for work I have to dress nicely which means I can't wear clothes that are too big...I spend a lot more on clothes now. Plus, it's just not fair that buying healthy food costs more each week than buying my cheapo $1 boxes of noodles!! But...it is still worth it. I'm thrilled with my band.

I'm definately not comparing myself to you...I'm really sorry about your situation. But, I do agree that this has cost me more money than I had planned on. Good luck and I hope it all works out.

justduckie · November 17, 2006

Derbygirl, have you looked into credit counceling? Not the kind that you see advertised....they are just crooks.....but a honest company? We did that about 8 years ago when I thought we were going to have to sell everything. They sat down with us, came up with a plan, contacted all of our creditors, then we just made one payment to them and they paid all of our bills. You have to make some big sacrifices, but for us it worked. AND we didn't lose our house.

Look in the yellow pages for "Consumer Credit Counseling". It should be a non-profit company and if they ask you to take out a loan, run.....run fast....away from them.

I know what you are going thru.....for us it wasn't my surgery but trying to put a child thru a private college. Very expensive. But very worth it.

Woodys · November 17, 2006

Credit counselling is the way to go, they will contact all your creditors and reach a mutual agreement for a new payment schedule. Re-financing on the equity in your house is also an excellent idea....this can all be discussed with the counsellor.....I would definately start there before you make any decisions on your own. Here in Canada our government has a credit counselling service that comes at no cost to the customer, one reason is to try to reduce the number of personal bankruptcies. Perhaps your local level or state government offers an assisted program as well.

You have recieved very sound advice here.....I would act on it.

Carol

sweethot143 · November 17, 2006

yes, this has hurt us financially, we own a home in the states that we rent out and had to take a home equity line on it. We really couldn't afford another payment, but I am willing to sacrafice and cut out other things, ooh like eating out! that will save us some money. I am looking foward to buying new clothes, i have nothing because shopping is depressing.