Cincinnati bandsters ! Please help!

roxieroo · October 1, 2008

Hi! I'm at a total loss:cursing:. I'm trying to find a company in Cincinnati that I can get a job at that will cover the lapband. My surgeon's office suggested a few and I'm in the process of contacting them, but you guys are the quickest and most accurate source of info. out there! HELP PLEASE??!!

Sarah.R · October 1, 2008

Soooo you don't care where you get a job as long as you get a free lap band from them?

billfresh · October 1, 2008

wow. i gotta say looking for a job based only on if they cover lapband is a new one to me. as a small business owner with 9 employees can i give a different viewpoint on this? sorry if it seems crass. i provide pretty decent healthcare insurance for our folks here< at real reasonable rates, but i do not have bariatric coverage included in our pkg. i had lapband by the way in august of this year. i was a self pay. i excluded bariatric coverage because i have 2 employees and 1 of their spouses that would probably utilize it. sounds like a typical "cheap" employers huh? look at it from an employers side. 2 years ago we had 2 gallbladder surgeries and a pregnancy. our renewal rate was initially +24% the following year. my agent got it down to only a 16% increase. we had very few claims last year and no serious ones. latest renewal was less than 1% for 09. good for all of us. if only 1 of these folks had a bariatric operation here in the states it would run minimum of $20k and up to $45k. for 2 folks, double that. here in lies the problem...i know these folks need help but if we have those surgeries go on our insurance our renewal rates would approach 40% to 60% next year IF they choose to renew at all. then what do i do when i can't afford to provide any insurance to ANY of my other empoyees. everyone thinks employers are just greedy and don't want people to be healthy if it costs them money. not true. most small business owners i know want to provide good coverage for their employees but the insurance companies have us by the balls! small companies can't get insurance if there are too many claims on the history so we are forced to be selective where necessary to be able to maintain any coverage. sorry, i'll get off my soapbox now. my advise to you is DO NOT advirtise to potential employers that you want bariatric surgery as soon as you qualify. no one will hire you. trust me on this one. good luck.