Just starting out and would love advice/recommendations

Hi, everyone - I'm in Marietta and I'm just starting in this process. I have posted on the main board that I have gotten my insurance ducks in a row. i have two insurance plans at the moment (till June at least, maybe for the rest of the year): Humana POS will be primary and BCBS (also I POS plan, I think) will be secondary. Has anyone here had surgery with Humana? I don't yet have all my policy books and stuff, so I can't see in network/out of network yet. Hopefully this week or next I will have this info. Any thoughts or experience with double insurance is greatly appreciated. What happens if one requires you to do supervised weight loss prior to surgery, and, assuming you're successful, this puts you below the BMI requirements for the other? How is this all handled/coordinated? I suspect that this will fall solely into my hands which is why I'd love to know as much as I can about it before starting off. In terms of which surgery, how much do YOU have a say, and how much is based on the doc's recommendation? Right now, I am considering LapBanding or RNY (arthroscopic, not open). The DS is of interest to me but scares me because of what might be a really silly reason: my mom had cancer and it was sheer hell to get her to consume enough nutrition during her treatments. I don't want to select a surgery that would make it nearly impossible to get through something like that if it were to happen to me in the future. So, potential reversability is an issue to me. Maybe I'm just being silly, and if I am, please tell me so. It seems there is a triangle between insurance/ the doc / the surgery. Insurance might dictate the surgery as well as the doc and hospital. The doc may only do certain types of surgery. Where should I start? I feel sort of if I'm going around in circles. Finally, if there is anyone in my neck of the woods you know of and might recommend, please let me know and I can work through the process of piecing it all together. Thanks so much, Laurie

My husband and I had lapband surgery the same day. You can check out my profile for more info. I don't have answers to many of your questions, but I thought it might help you to know our steps. First, we researched Dr.'s in the Atlanta area. We're down in Columbus and knew we wanted a Dr. that had lots of experience.  I checked all over the internet....this website was probably the most helpful, other the the Dr's individual websites. Then I checked to make sure my narrowed down list of Dr.'s was covered by my insurance. Then we went to the information meetings. Different Dr.'s do it different ways. We knew from the start we wanted lapband. Our main reasons were: 1. our anatomy stayed the same. 2.  if medically necessary it could be removed. 3. It was adjustable. I'd learned in my research that many RNY people stretch out their pouch and then look to have another surgery done. 4. There were not the absorption issues....that scared me when it came to long term affects since we're in our early 40's.  5. Then we chose our Dr and they helped us get the ball rolling etc. Over all we have been very please with Dr. Rashid and the office, but we learned here that we need to call, call, call. It might have been a very different experience if we hadn't learned so much here.

Hi Laurie!  I had the Gastric Sleeve with Dr. Smith.  Humana would not pay for any of it.  My company had it written in the contracts that they wouldn't pay for any WLS so I had to pay on my own.  Luckly Wellstar and Dr. Smith have discounted prices for self-pay patients if your insurance won't pay.  As for your question on what your say is in the type of surgery you have, Dr. Smith did not push me in anyway.  I learned about all the choices, looked at what I could afford, and then went to him with my plans.  The only thing that could change your plans would be what your insurance will pay for and if you have had any other abdominal surgery. OnceDr. Smith got in and started my surgery he saw I made the best choice because I had so much scar tissue from three c-sections he wouldn't of been able to get into my bowel to re-route for the other surgeries.  Good luck on your journey and keep coming back to this site!  It has been the best place for me to get answers and I have made tons of friends!!

I am having lapband surgery on March 4th. I am using Dr. Edward Lin at Crawford-Long Hospital. Dr. Lin did my husbands RNY 3 years ago and we are extremely pleased with his results. He lost 125 lbs over 2 years and is maintaining even now. Because we went thru Emory Bariatrics we found the process easy. They are very knowledgeable about all the requirements of insurance companies. They guided me thru getting my paperwork together and submitted everything to the insurance company for me. I went to their free seminar November 8th. It took me a couple of months to get everthing I needed together ,especially in the middle of the holidays. On January 22nd they faxed my information and was approved for surgery just 3 days later! My insurance company is BCBS. After a month of pre-op testing I was finally given a surgery date. I am so excited!!! The process was relatively painless and Emory was fantastic thru the whole thing. If you are interested, call them at 404-778-7777 and they can sign you up for the free seminar. You must attend it before you can do anything else thru them. It is very informative and there is no obligation. I live 2 hours south of Atlanta and to me it is worth the trip to go to a place I am comfortable and trust. I hope this helps!