Is there any organizations that help pay for lap band?

mommy2kyler · June 23, 2007

Im sorry i keep posting but i was wondering if there was anywhere that would help to pay for a lap band. My insurance will not cover it and I am trying to find a way to pay for it. I called a place today that will do it for 15,000 and let you pay it over 5 years but that still makes my payments be between 250-300 a month and right now i just cant do it. does anyone know?:cry

WASaBubbleButt · June 26, 2007

None that I know of.

I would suggest finding a better loan interest rate. Mexico is about 1/2 the price of the US. That's where a great many of us got our bands.

faithmd · June 26, 2007

$15,000 is quite high for a band, even in the US. lapbandrockies.com (Kirshenbaum in Denver) is considerably cheaper than that, there is a guy (Mark Pleatman) in the Detroit area that is a little over $12K, look at the ads on the sides here, they are for cheaper than that. Mexico has some of the best band surgeons out there and I don't think I've seen a Mexico clinic higher than $10K, most are around $8K. But that having been said, to a point you do get what you pay for, so do your research! (Avoid Betencourt.) The key is if you are going anywhere away from your home you MUST set up your aftercare BEFORE you have your surgery. Many surgeons will not touch/fill another surgeon's band. There are some that will, that's why you have to set it up first. There is also a company that is expanding quickly called Fill Centers USA that does fills.

Keep looking around, you'll find something better. And no, sadly there isn't someone who will give you a grant for a band. If there were, we'd all have used that grant money up. Admittedly it is a struggle, but the band does require a committment, and part of that is how hard are you willing to work to get it in the first place? I was fortunate, I had insurance that covered it, but my struggle was still five, almost six years to get the band. Initially no insurances covered it, then I was told that one of the insurers I could choose did cover the band. I switched insurances, and guess what? I was misinformed. So I had to deal with that company for a year, the next year I was told the thought they'd be adding it, they didn't, another year went by. Then when I did get with the company who does cover the band, they changed the provider list, and then changed MD supervised diet requirements (were 6 months, changed it to 12 months)..yada, yada, yada. After all that I was adamant those f*^k#rs were going to pay for my freaking band. But if one more thing had happened, I had already lined up financing and would have been on the plane to Mexico to see Dr. Aceves.

While you are waiting and figuring out how to get the band paid for, may I suggest you make some changes now that you will have to make down the line? I did, and I can tell it you that it has helped the post-op transition immensely. I stopped drinking all soda (no carbonation), I gave up caffeine (you can still have minimal amounts, but it is a diuretic and many bandsters struggle to get in enough fluids as it is, then to add a diuretic on top of it doesn't help). I started logging every bite I swallowed and every thing I drank (even water) on fitday.com (it is free and there are others: sparkpeople.com, mydailyplate.com, calorieking.com, etc) along with my activity and weight. I wasn't perfect but I tried to give up all white (refined and most simple) carbs, enriched flours and anything with high fructose corn Syrup in it in favor of whole grains and steel cut oats. I tried to cut out as many artifical sweeteners as possible (Nutrasweet gives me headaches, saccharin tastes gross, Splenda/sucralose still causes the vicious cycle where your body thinks it ate something with sugar in it and then you get that release that says I'm hungry again) in favor of blue agave syrup (still has carbs, but is low glycemic index-broken down slowly by the body) and Stevia (plant derivative you can find in the health food section of bigger supermarkets or at health food stores, it has no effect on blood sugar or insulin secretion). I started eating like U.S. bandsters are told to: Proteins first, veggies second and if I had room, I'd eat complex carbs or fruits. I liked Kashi with vanilla soy milk in the morning and a little dried or fresh fruit, yummy! It sounds like a lot to do, but it really wasn't hard AT ALL. By making these changes I lost almost 50 pounds in 4 1/2 months PRE BAND. I began taking tiny bites, using baby utensils sometimes, practicing chewing chewing chewing (that's my hardest thing), and not drinking with my meals, or for an hour after (if I can make it that long).

Try some or all of these things while you are getting things together, the worst thing that can happen is that you lose some weight, and that you will be much more prepared for life after banding.

I do wish you luck, as Red Green says: "I'm pullin' for ya, we're all in this together."