LAP-Band Prices

I do have coverage with my insurance, but if for some reason they deny me, I am looking to find out the self-pay prices for LAP-Band with Dr. Jawad and Dr. Kim.  Anyone know? I am just so ready for this that I may just pay out of pocket for it instead of waiting 6 months to complete the PCP diet monitoring. Ali Orlando, FL

Hi Ali, You can go to jawadmd.com and there you can find a list of what the self pay cost is for Dr. J I know there is 2 different sets of prices depending on where you choose to  have the surgery done for the lap band. He'll do it either at the hospital or at the surgery center, which is cheaper for self pay. But go and check it out!! Don't know about Dr. Kim, if I'm not mistaken I think Dr. Kim also charges for a program fee?? Don't quote me on that though!    Hope this helps!! Jo Ann

My insurance won't cover WSL, so I'm going to be self-paying and since I really want the Lap-Band I'll either use my home equity line of credit or a credit card.  There's also medically specific finance options available but I'm figuring I can get a better finance rate. Dr. Kim's fees are about $16,000 - psych eval, surgeon, hospital, normal pre & post-tests - whi*****ludes their program fee.  If you need additional tests for clearance those are extra but you would probably go thru your PCP or a specialist, so I'm thinking that insurance could possibly cover those.  The first year fills are included also, except with the first one, there is an additional $150 - paid to FL Hospital (i'm guessing that's for the fluroscopy (sp?)) I'm still planning on having them file with my insurance, as I've heard from several different persons that they did and even though they mostly just got denials for services they did get a few little checks for this and that - I figure every little bit would help! I have my psych eval scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, so once she says I'm cleared for the surgery I will know more of the details. Good Luck with your journey!

Pattilynn, I have checked with Dr. Jawad and he is about $14,600 for the lap-band. What is the 'program fee?' What is the charge for that? It is such a huge amount of money to put out, but I am thinking that I don't want to wait another 6 months due to the monitored diet plan.  I wonder if these guys give any type of professional discounts? Like to RNs specifically. When I was working as an RN in Infertility, our physicians would give discounts to some patients since most of thier treatment was out of pocket. Ali

Another question...why couldn't you have the labs and psych eval covered under your medical insurance? Ali

I'm thinking those are some of the "little" checks from insurance that others have mentioned.  I rounded the total cost figure up to $16,000 cause the some fees, like the radiologist reviewing of one of the post-test or pathology fee, if required, are extras. On Dr. Kim's/U. S. Bariatrics web-site there is a mention of a "program fee"  of $600 (which was referred to in an earlier reply) but I was told that was part of overall cost and wasn't presented on the web-site accurately - covers pre- and post- counseling concerning psych, nutrition, fitness and exercise, etc. - they handle all that out of their office. Dr. Kim's office specified Dr. Ferguson to do the eval, but from what I understand from other posts, other surgeons don't specify a psychologist - each one does things differently I guess.  The psycho eval is $500 cash, money order, or cashier's check (because Dr. Ferguson does these evals in a "cohabitated" office in Celebrations and not in her  regular office so doesn't have the means to take credit cards - which kind of sucks cause I can't even earn points for this fee :)  But then the information letter I received from her states "Information needed for insurance submission will be mailed to you approximately 3 weeks after the session.".  

Since every surgeon and insurance is a little different it can all get a little complicated and confusing, that's one reason I just chose Dr. Kim's office - I have 2 friends that had their RNY's thru him and are very please with his care and staff, so I decided on Dr. Kim - I'm not "shopping" around any more. In a way I'm glad that I don't have to go through all the insurance "hoops", I just hope everything goes smoothly with Dr. Kim's office.   Take care!

Most of our self pay patients get a lot of their pre-op clearances done under the auspices of their PCP, so insurance usually covers. Dr. Ferguson (psychologist) is out of network but does supply patients with documentation to submit to insurance. If a patient has a long-standing psychotherapeutic alliance with a Ph.D or a psychiatrist, we will often accept a psych clearance from them as they know the patient best. But for a one-time clearance, you would be stunned to see the varied reports that we received. Dr. Ferguson's testing and counseling process gave us the closest predictor for post-op success. Some reports that we were given could have easily fit on a ****tail napkin - it was frightening. That is why we decided to primarily focus on one psychologist. HTH, Kristen

Pattilyn, does that $600 program fee cover the psych eval? I thought from when I went to seminar it did but I can be way wrong.

Eli, I thought you were going to Dr. Jawad? Maybe youjust checked out the other center too? Did you like Dr. Kim's group? What made you not choose this center for your surgery? Ali