Self Pay- Dr. Duncan's office

Hello everyone, My husband is trying to get the surgery, but has a complete exclusion in his insurance. Can't get on my insurance because of weight related health issues (go figure ). So we're looking into the self pay idea. I figure it will get more and more common as insurance companies desert the field. Has anyone in the Ga group done a self pay procedure with Dr. Duncan's group? Do you even know if he does them? If you like you can email me with any details you don't feel comfortable posting. Going for my 2 week post op on Mon and plan on asking about DH then as well. Thanks for any info you can give. Melissa

Melissa I dont know about Duncan and self pay but i think Dr Daily dose do self pay and i want to say it is around 5000.00 to 6000.00 i called him first and when i heard that i was cool with it ( thinking this is soooo worth it ) but i wanted to see if i could get insurance to cover it and they did ...but i am not sure of Dailys number ......but i think he is in the Snelville area Laura

Laura, Dr. Daly is at Northside. I don't have his number in front of me, but he is a doctor I would highly recommend. Melissa, just my two cents on the whole self-pay. I would recommend, doing self-pay as an absolute, last resort. Self-pay is of course a viable option if and when all other avenues have been exhausted. The reason I say last option is, what happens if complications happen? Will your insurance pick up and pay for the complications, maybe they will, and maybe they won't. I was looking into self-pay, if our insurance would not pay. Thank God they did cover it. I had complications to the tune of more than $960,000.00 Had I been a self-pay, we could be bankrupt now. I would like to say our insurance would have picked up the complication cost, but there is never a guarantee of that. I'm not trying to scare you, just suggest that even if you have to wait until open-season and change your insurance carrier, that could be better than a huge, huge hospital bill. Debbie J Duncan patient 01-14-02 lap-rny 01-15-02 leak repair surgery (non smoker, non steroid taker) 01-29-02 surgery to see if I had another leak, NO thank goodness SEVERE COMPLICATIONS! 45 days in ICU, 33 of those days kept alive via ventilator 30 days in a rehab hospital, had to learn to walk again Now, one happy girl, LUCKY to be alive

Debbie I am so sorry to hear you had so many complications. Hope you are doing well now. What all happened? I am in the process of waiting for Insurance approval myself & I'm still scared. Tammy

Tammy thank you for asking. I'm doing fine now. The initial leak, started the complication rollar coaster for me, and things just went downhill from there. Please don't let my story scare you. Someone on another board summed it up best by saying, "don't let it scare you, let it prepare you." Good Luck as you undergo your journey to health. Debbie J