Medicaid question-Tampa or St Pete

I have an aquaintance who has Florida Medicaid and very little money who needs and wants the surgery. She has no 'puter access either. She is wondering who in the Pinellas/Hillsborough area takes medicaid. Medicaid referred her to a doc in Ft Lauderdale with a small amount of pre op and followup, and she has no way down or a place to stay there. Anyone know of a way for her in the area here? Thanks so much for the help! ~Tina~

There are very few doctors who accept Medicaid for the surgery, and those who do have a limit on the number of Medicaid patients they can accept. If I were her, I'd call the doctors offices myself and see who would be willing to accept her. Sorry if that's not the answer you wanted to hear, but hopefully someone else will have better news. Jan

Hi Tina, I know for myself when I was looking for a surgeons that took Medicaid it was a long road. I made call, after call, after call! I am not quite sure where your friends area is located, but I also ended up useing Dr. Cox in Ft. Lauderdale. It was quite a drive and obviously there were expenses associated with the trip, food, hotel, gas, etc. etc....... It was well worth it though! Perhaps you can suggest this your friend...........having a yard sale, donations from family and friends and things of that nature. If she can somehow set up a savings account and save the additional money she will need for the trip that might work for her. It is well worth it after the fact! Michelle

Michelle, We missed you Saturday! How are you? Hugs, Erika

Erika, Hello to you! I missed you as well! I swear one of these weekends I am going to make it to the meetup! The children always have so much going on, on Sats............I plan to be there and then something comes up last min! I am doing good though! How are you and your family doing? I am looking forward to seeing you soon! You look so darn good in those pics, you can definitly see the weight loss! Love you! Michelle

What type of medicaid does your friend have? medipass/staywell/amerigroup/healthease or other? For medipass Dr.Tenewitz in melbourne, for staywell and healthease Dr. Rehnke(the surgeon in which i used) in St. Pete. Dr. Rosenthal in Weston takes medipass. I changed my medicaid to use Dr. Rehnke, he was highly recommended. I called several drs myself personally asking, not many take medicaid anymore. Tell your friend good luck and keep us posted. Tammy

I go to the Wish Center here in Hillsborough, and I received a letter the other day saying that they added a few insurances to their list...Medicaid was on that list, so maybe she might want to check that out. It's in Tampa at Town 'N' Country hospital. -Phoenix

The lady was in fact going to see Dr Cox! I have another friend who used Dr Rehnke. And I am pleased to have had success with WISH in Tampa and I will let her know they take medicaid now also. Thank you all very much!!! ~Tina~

Tina, I understand that Dr. Murr in Tampa takes a certain number of Medicaid cases every year. If he has taken all for this year, maybe she can get on his list early for next year.

if she plans on going to work after having weight loss surgery then try her local vocational rehabiltation office. that is the only requirement with them is that you intend to seek work afterwards.