Insurance Coverage if Complications

[healthierhappierme 14]

I am reading "The Sleeved Life" by Pennie Nicola - it briefly mentions insurance to cover complications if your own insurance does not cover bariatric surgery. I am self-pay and that is one of the things I have worried about - if something goes wrong once I am back home, will my insurance cover it. Has anyone checked with your insurance company to see if they would cover post-surgery complications or have you purchased a supplement policy? Where do you purchase a supplement policy? I truly think I am not going to have any issues but I would rather be prepared.

[dinosaurateme 4]

I used to work in billing for walgreens. There was one patient I came across who had the bypass surgery who was a self pay for the surgery because her insurance didn't cover it. she had complications from the surgery and her insurance would not cover anything that resulted from the surgery. Not trying to scare you, but unfortunately it's the business of insurance.

[Kindle 8,667]

My insurance specifically excluded WLS and any complications due to WLS unless they were "life threatening". There were no insurance plans available in my state to cover anything WLS related. I researched extensively for insurance for postop complications and didn't have much luck. Some surgeons offer BLIS insurance to cover complications, but the surgeon I chose didn't. That may be something you want to consider when deciding on a surgeon. Medical Tourism Insurance.com. Is one of the companies I found that does offer some postop complication coverage, but read the fine print and limits very carefully.

It really didn't matter if I had surgery in Mexico or in the US, complications would not be covered either way. So I just went with the surgeon and facility I felt the safest with and resigned myself to bankruptcy if anything bad happened. Just one of the things in the "cons" column when I decided to have surgery. Luckily all went well. Insurance covered my postop bloodwork because my PCP submitted it as a wellness checkup.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Kindle