Newbie here and totally lost

[hopeliveshere 294]

Hello all. I am new to this website and have been considering vsg for quite a while now. I am 30 years old and i am 5'3" my highest weight is 255lbs. I am currently hovering around the 247 mark. I have struggled with weight since i was a child. Name a diet and I have probably been on it. I have tried weight watchers, slim fast, south beach and a host of diet pills including dexatrim, stacker2, hydroxycut and alli.

My greatest success came from the alli pills in oct of 2009. I went from 230lbs to 189lbs.After the birth of my second child who is now two, i just cannot lose any wieght. I restarted the alli pills in Jan and have been yo-yoing with a 6lb weight loss. My BMI is 44+. I have no other co morbitities (that I am aware of) besides for having high cholesterol. I do not take medication for this. I think that vsg will give me the tools i need to succeed finally on this journey. However, I have no idea where to even begin. I have done research on the procedure itself so far.

What is my first step? Do i need to go to visit my regular dr and discuss this with her or do i start the search for a surgeon first? Does anyone know anything about Magnacare insurance covering the procedure.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone in the community. Thanks in advance for your help

[banditchic 83]

I contacted my local hospital, and asked if they had a bariatric program. They transferred me to the bariatric program director who helped me every step of the way. I had mentioned it to my regular doctor, but she wasn't a fan of wl surgery. So she wasn't any help. Best wishes on your journey.

[MICKEYMANTLE 8]

the first step is to find a good surgeon in your area and go to his/her free seminar,if we knew where you lived we might be able to suggest one

you will probably need a referral from your regular doctor(insist if they don't want to give you one)

the surgeon will probably require you to lose 10% of your extra weight before surgery, you may need to do a sleep study, blood work, stress test

it usually takes 6 months from when you see the surgeon till you get the surgery , it helps to go to your doctors support group if they don't have one find a different surgeon,support is very important

[sleevehopefull27 29]

When I decided to have wls I found a surgon in my area and went to a free seminar. I went in thinking I wanted the lap band and left wanting the sleeve! After the seminar they helped me know what steps to take next. I never bothered with my pcp or the hospital....just went straight to the sourse. Good luck to you!

[hopeliveshere 294]

i live in queens, new york.

[southernsoul 773]

My first step was to call my insurance company, Aetna. I asked what kind of coverage I have for this & what surgeons I could choose from. There is only one bariatric surgeon in my small town & he only does band & gastric bypass. I knew I didn't want either one of those, so I had to see what other surgeons were available in Atlanta. I didn't want to waste time learning about a surgeon who might not be covered on my insurance, so that's why I called Aetna first.

The lady I spoke with told me that I had to choose a surgeon listed as a Center of Excellence & got me to the list of surgeons online. I can't remember the exact 3 letter designation, but they were indicated next to the surgeon's name. (I'm not sure why Aetna has surgeons on the list who DON'T have this designation if they won't cover the procedure with them, but they do). The Aetna lady also directed me to the list of pre-op steps that Aetna requires, which are in addition to the reqs the surgeon has. At my 1st appt with the surgeon, his nurse went over the Aetna stuff, too, but it helped that I had already read through the list. I never went to the free seminars, because it's a 2.5 hour round trip. After researching a couple of the surgeons online, I just made an appt with my 1st choice.

I totally agree with Mickey above that support is very important. There are no groups in my town, so I'm struggling with that. This site is filling some of that need, but face to face is probably better.

[FeeIsMe2 508]

Hello all. I am new to this website and have been considering vsg for quite a while now. I am 30 years old and i am 5'3" my highest weight is 255lbs. I am currently hovering around the 247 mark. I have struggled with weight since i was a child. Name a diet and I have probably been on it. I have tried weight watchers, slim fast, south beach and a host of diet pills including dexatrim, stacker2, hydroxycut and alli.

My greatest success came from the alli pills in oct of 2009. I went from 230lbs to 189lbs.After the birth of my second child who is now two, i just cannot lose any wieght. I restarted the alli pills in Jan and have been yo-yoing with a 6lb weight loss. My BMI is 44+. I have no other co morbitities (that I am aware of) besides for having high cholesterol. I do not take medication for this. I think that vsg will give me the tools i need to succeed finally on this journey. However, I have no idea where to even begin. I have done research on the procedure itself so far.

What is my first step? Do i need to go to visit my regular dr and discuss this with her or do i start the search for a surgeon first? Does anyone know anything about Magnacare insurance covering the procedure.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone in the community. Thanks in advance for your help

I have MagnaCare thru my husbands union and oxford thru my job, Magnacare would pay $8000 toward the surgery, but my best friend also has Magnacare thru her husbands union and they paid for everything. It depends on the plan, call and ask them what they will cover. Most bariatric surgeons have free seminars and will help you with all the steps including insurance issues.(some are more helpful than others).

I first went to a surgeon in Nassau county who really wasn't helpful at all, I found my surgeon in Suffolk County and they took care of everything for me.

Good Luck!

[PdxMan 4,292]

Just to echo SouthernSoul, find out if bariatric procedures are covered under your insurance. I found a local surgeon, went to the seminar and started jumping through the hoops only to find out later my insurance didn't cover WLS. I had to restart everything as the self-pay route for this surgeon was $35K for a sleeve. Not an option.

I ended up quite happy going to Dr Thomas Umbach in Las Vegas (baby!) for $10,400, outpatient. So, find out your coverage first, then procedure from there.

[hopeliveshere 294]

Thanks everyone for your helpful responses. I tried to call Magnacare yesterday and just could not get through to anyone. I was on their automated system for a half an hour at least and could not find what i was looking for nor could i get through to a live person. im going to try to visit their website. and i did locate some seminars in my are. Ill just keep pressing forward

[SerendipityHappens 1,594]

My journey was different. I knew I wasn't covered so I jumped right in to finding the best self-pay option for me.. The Bariatric program here would have cost $20,000... not an option.. I researched and researched and decided on a doctor in Mexico.. $4,500 including everything but airfare. (I had two nights in the hospital plus three hotel nights for recovery)

If you hit a wall with insurance, don't give up. There are low cost options in the USA (Las vegas, Lousiana, texas) for around 10K... and even lower cost options in Mexico.. for under 5K. Where there is a will there is a way!

[hopeliveshere 294]

well i just started checking out hospitals. My bf's neice just got sleeved about a month ago at Lenox HIll. I looked that up and its says that my insurance is out of network there. So i looked at new york hospital queens and the dr there is in the magancare network. So now i am going to see about going to the seminar.

Self pay is out of the question for me. I can no where near afford it unfortunately.

[kp2010 35]

Hey guys I'm new to this.... like everyone else, my insurance will not cover it, so I'm looking to go to Mexico. I just don't know where to start, so if anyone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome.

Thanks.

[missyjoy2078 381]

i live in queens' date=' new york.[/quote']

Dr Roslin at Lenox hill. Love him and have total faith in him

[SerendipityHappens 1,594]

Hey guys I'm new to this.... like everyone else, my insurance will not cover it, so I'm looking to go to Mexico. I just don't know where to start, so if anyone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome.

Thanks.

Basically there are companies in the US who will help you on your journey. A Lighter Me, Mexico Bariatric Center, Ready4Achange, Medical Tourisim co among others, are all different companies that will arrange for your treatment and for you and make sure you are taken care of. You pay the booking agency and they pay the doctor/hospital/hotel, arrange ground transportation. Also, there are some doctors who don't use any booking agency and do all of the arrangements in house for you.

For better information, Visit the "mexico self pay" sub-forum on this site.. just go to the main page here and scroll down. Tons of information there

[*susan* 1,709]

Kp2010, you may also want to check out www.mysurgeryoptions.com. It is owned by the same man and company that operates these boards, and I handle all the before, during and aftercare. We are new, so you won't find a lot of information about us, but my passion is helping others achieve what I have achieved with weight loss surgery.

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