Paying out of pocket and surgeon needed

 Also I would strongly recommend first going to your local credit union or local bank for a personal loan (better rates), then the remainder of the balance you can go through the medical loan companies. the medical loan companies are pretty outrageous interest-wise.
I've been living out of the country for 3 YEARS, and my home bank just approved me for $5k, that was a great help and helped me pay.
It's definately worth a try :)

Thank you Inkedandsleeved. I did check out the loan options and some were for only $10,000 based on my credit score. I didnt think about getting more than one loan. By the way, I just got off the phone with the pre-cert dept at my insurance company and one of the nurses that approve the surgeries told me that I would have no problem getting approved for the RNY and that they dont require any supervised diets and that the approval is done by the nurses and just based on my bmi alone I will be approved which is good news if I decide to go with the RNY after all. She said that if I wanted the DS then I would have to talk with the surgeon and have them contact the insurance and submit whatever supporting documentation for the DS and that this approval would be determined by the doctors at my insurance company. She did say that it would not be easy. So I am going to continue to research, research, research and make a final decision in a few months.

 awesome!
from reading this board it looks like all DS gets denied right off the bat, but just takes an appeal (because it's "experimental" even though it's waaaaaaaay safer. hah. whatevs.)
i hope you decide on the switch :D

In CA, appeals nearly always go in favor of the DS. Maybe you should post specifically for information about doing an appeal in the state of Florida. In my opinion the DS in the only way to go. Good luck and be persistent. It won't happen overnight but the results will last a long lifetime.

If you medically qualify for a RnY, you medically qualify for a DS.

Whatever surgeon you decide upon will need to help you with that (their insurance area will).

I would recommend Stewart in TX just for that reason, as others in FL have used him and his office knows what to do about the insurance hoops.

If you were going self-pay, I would say Ungeson in Mexico, or Kemmeter in Michigan (my surgeon -- $21,000).  I wish I could also recommend Kemmeter for the insurance fight, because as a surgeon HE is worth it, but his office isn't always so easy to work with, especially when it comes to something out of the norm.

Thanks Gail and Guate. I will be making some phone calls tomorrow starting with Dr Stewarts office.

Another great self-pay option from FLA would be Dr. Marchisini (sorry about spelling!) in Brazil.
     But most important point, don't get an operation you really don't want just because it's easier or quicker to get. That's a strategy that's doomed to failure, and would be difficult or impossible to correct down the line. By all means, help your daughter all you can, but not at the expense of your own health and welfare. Who knows what your (and her) financial and medical situations will be 2 years from now?
     Do what is right for YOU. The rest will fall into place. And btw, with your bmi being so high, it makes the DS even more the best choice for you, AND somewhat easier to convince insurance to pay for it.

Larra

Please don't decide on your surgery because someone said it's "easier" to get approved for.  I read your post about that thinking "it IS possible to get the DS covered, so why would she NOT go for it?"  Your BMI is high.  You will need the malabsorption for life, not just for awhile, which is what you get with RNY.  The dumping DOES stick around for life tho.  This is a serious, life changing decision.  Don't let insurance stop you from doing what you need to do.

Its such a big decison but at the same time I am so anxious to get it done already. Its kinda like holding an ice-cream cone in front of a five year old and saying do you want this single scoop now or do you want to wait until tomorrow  to see if the ice-cream truck will come by again and if it does you can get a double scoop instead.  Part of me feels that way about the insurance issue. I can have the RNY now or I can fight for the possibly of the DS later. With appealing to the insurance I have to jump over two hurdles the first one is getting them to approve the surgery and the second one would be getting them to approve it for an out of state surgeon. I am looking into the whole appeals process.   I am also trying to be patient and looking at the benefits and risks of both and I still have a few personal friends that I know that had WLS I need to talk with. This is such a huge decision. I had trouble sleeping last night and decided I need to take a break from all of this and start researching again in another week or so. Thanks so much for your input. I really appreciate what you and all of the people on OH have to say.

Getting in any kind of rush about a decision that will change the whole rest of your life is ALWAYS a bad idea. Good for you for slowing yourself down.