Time from consult to surgery - no insurance

[Cd8321 0]

Hi all! Did anyone get the gastric sleeve surgery and pay out of pocket? My BMI is 37 so my insurance company won’t cover me. Does anyone know the approximate time frame from the consult date to the actual surgery date being that I won’t have to go through any insurance hoops? Thanks in advance

[Officially Not Fatty Matty 461]

Depends on where you go. Mine was two weeks from phone call to surgery, it would have been one week if I called a little earlier in the day and snagged that last appointment one week earlier.

[LiteWeight1973 20]

I started out trying to go through insurance, but the hoops I had to jump through were getting more and more ridiculous. So I went cash pay and it was as quickly as finding an open spot on the schedule.

Edited May 6, 2021 by LiteWeight1973

[ruthpets 79]

I also paid out of pocket. Started the process mid-January, had my surgery on 3/17. I found that I needed to really emphasize to my surgeon and his staff that I was paying out of pocket. It took a few times for them to understand that I was not waiting around for Oxford to approve the surgery and that I was good to go as soon as possible (I lucked out and was able to get ALL my pre-op tests done lickety-split -- like all within 2 weeks). GL!!!!

[Cd8321 0]

2 hours ago, ruthpets said:

I also paid out of pocket. Started the process mid-January, had my surgery on 3/17. I found that I needed to really emphasize to my surgeon and his staff that I was paying out of pocket. It took a few times for them to understand that I was not waiting around for Oxford to approve the surgery and that I was good to go as soon as possible (I lucked out and was able to get ALL my pre-op tests done lickety-split -- like all within 2 weeks). GL!!!!

Thanks! Did insurance at least approve your pre op tests or did that come out of pocket too?

[Cd8321 0]

13 hours ago, Slightly Less Fatty Matty said:

Depends on where you go. Mine was two weeks from phone call to surgery, it would have been one week if I called a little earlier in the day and snagged that last appointment one week earlier.

Wow! Thanks!

[Cd8321 0]

7 hours ago, LiteWeight1973 said:

I started out trying to go through insurance, but the hoops I had to jump through were getting more and more ridiculous. So I went cash pay and it was as quickly as finding an open spot on the schedule.

Thanks!