Dr. Beltre (Orlando)

I am new to this site and to the thought of lap-band.  Dr. Wiljon Beltre is a participating provider with my insurance. I was wondering if any of you have seen him? I called the office today and they advised me to go to the seminar on 7/18 to get all the information and to see if I am a candidate. Please let me know if you know anything about this doctor. Ali

You need to be careful. He is on my plan too but decides not to bill my insurance for his surgery fees so I would have had to pay for some of my surgery. How they are able to be participating in a plan and charge you on the side is beyond me.

Hi Eli, I do not have specific knowledge of Dr. Beltre's insurance policies as I work for US Bariatric Orlando (Dr. Keith Kim). If your doctor is out of network, many insurance companies *require* that the surgeon collect the full surgeon fee prior to surgery. Then the insurance company will reimburse the patient the policy-stated percentage of the usual and customary costs. HTH, Kristen

Thanks for all the info so far.  Dr. Beltre is in network for me (Cigna). I called the office today and they told me that he only bills insurance for the hospital portion and his fee is $5000. Not sure why I owuld pay $5000 for something that is covered.

Kristen: Does Dr. Kim accept Cigna POS? I would love to come out to Celebration. What is the process for your group? What is the self-pay price for LAP-Band with Dr. Keith? Ali

 

Hi Ali,

Even though we are out of network, we have success with obtaining gap letters for patients. This allows the patient to go to USBO as if we were in network. I'd love it if we could try to help you.

Call me and we can go from there. 407.303.4574.

HTH,

Kristen

Kristen, That sounds great! I faxed my paperwork over to Dr. Kim's on 6/20/07. I got a response from USBO via email that said someone would contact me after it was reviewed. The name is Alicia Shaginaw. Feel free to look at it and let me know what you think. At first glance it may appear that I would not qualify since my BMI is 37.1, but I have co-morbid conditions like hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance. I also have an extensive family history of diabetes and heart disease. My father died at age 49 (2005) from complications of diabetes. My mom and both grandparents have diabetes too. Thanks for the help Kristen. Ali [email protected]

The problem is that is that this doctor was not out of my network, and was still doing this.

Hmmm. That is strange.

I know, it made me so mad. I was starting to think no one would see me, and that they must think people have all this money laying around.

I feel like I am in the same boat as you. I am telling you, I know these doctors do not like what they are getting paid for the surgery by insurance companies but do not make your potential patients suffer.  It is horrible. And should be against the law.