DR Rosen patients( self pay & others) a ? for you.....

 
had my pre-op apt yesterday and walked out of there extremely nervous about the complications after my "self pay" surgery .   He said the comp are 5 in 100 ( for various complications) and the same for the need to go back in surgery to correct various things. Flipped port, erosions, holes, etc....  and that doesnt scare me as much as the fact that I have to come up with the money BEFORE we go back in to correct these problems.  I guess I never thought that by being a self pay & paying 15K, that my complications weren't covered, at all /?  I would have assumed it was a package deal -    Nevermind the 6 pre-op tests that required I pay for them before I had them done. LOL, a 400$ psych visit. 200 for the meating , then as I was leaving, she said she needed another 180$ to type the report ??  THAT was never explained to me in the beginning of the session, just kinda thrown in at the end, like a car salesman.  I guess if I had known that as well, I might as well have waited another year or so until I could cash pay for the "self pay" preop testing ??sounds kinda silly ?  So, I guess I should have gotten a loan for say, 50 K instead ??   Just in case I am the 1 in 5 of 100 ?   I almost want to cancel & forget about this because of that fact alone.   5 in 100 isn't really a "low" figure and if it can happen to me, it will. .....that's how my life has always been.   

So, for those of you that are DR Rosen patients, please enlighten me on your experiences if you are a self pay, and then anything that will help me make my final decision if you're not

Well, as for myself and my husband we did not have any complications with our open RNY surgeries. Neither of us were self pay as my insurance paid for both of our surgeries.  I will be the devil's advocate here and ask you how any doctor could build into a self pay fee the covering of potential complications? You are only paying for the current surgery and hospital stay. If that be the case you would need to pay far more than the $15K to begin with and then work out a system to have you reimbursed if there aren't any problems? That $15K only covers the doctor (pre op and PO), clinic visits, support group meetings and hospital costs for the initial surgery. It will be a gamble you will need to weigh out as to if this is the route you want to go. I truely would not let the possibility of complications get in my way of the benefits of a healthy future and if I could lengthen my life and live without co-morbids. There really would not be a comparison to me. By the way Dr Rosen shoots from the hip and does not sugar coat anything. IMHO he would not be doing his job as a physician if he did not tell you the worst case scenerio.   Christine ps by the way what session are you talking about? Was it your first pre op visit with LWB? LWB and before that WISH always left the "business" end for the very last part of your apt. Your most important thing that you are there for is to meet with the other professionals first and then they do the financial at the end. You do not need to be thinking about finances during the time with the dietician, exercise physiologist and meeting with the doctor. Where would your blood pressure been if Barbie talked about the finances before you had your labs and BP taken? There are costs that are involved with every aspect of pre op and PO visits and that includes the $180 for typing the letter. For most that cost is built into everything that the insurance pays, most people do not know those things.

Hello,  I was not a self pay patient and I also was not a patient of Dr. Rosen's. However I think that if you had a complication that required a hospital stay they are not going to tell you"Well you have to pay cash now or you will die".  That's like telling a patient with no insurance that they can't be treated for a heart attack because they don't have insurance.  State of IL law requires that you be treated.  In some ways though I do agree with you that they should have been very upfront with you as far as the cost of everything so you could borrow the correct amount of money.  I understand what Christine is saying however most surgeons make more money off self pays than they do with people with insurance. For example my surgery was approx $16,000.  My BCBS didn't even pay half of that.  Yes I know how insurance works and all that I worked for a hospital.  However the self pay patient is cash in the bank for doctors.  Susan may I ask why you aren't trying ins.?  Do they have an exclusion policy or what's the deal.  If you just plain got denied you may want to look into a lawyer.  I had to hire a lawyer and it was a hell of alot cheaper.  Mine got approved however I can't say that everyone's will.  The first surgeon I went through told me I had to be self pay because they were not willing to work with my insurance becuase they are hard to get approved. I kind of felt the same way that you do with the money situation.  They said they would take me if I had public aid but not really if I had BCBS.  So I moved on and found a wonderful surgeon who worked with me.  He was very hopeful.  Don't lose hope.  If you have come this far you should finish what you started.  Good Luck to you. 

DaisyDog...thanks for th info.  I work for a family owned business somewhat and they consider themselves "Small Business". Unfortunately, for the last year I have been trying to find a "loop - hole" & this is what Aetna says " For Small Business Insurances, WLS is NOT a covered benefit" , Even though I have all the co-morbidities just about possible.  I even had LawyerHelp.com try to help me and they said because we have small business ins, they CAN do that to me.  With my first Bariatric doctor, she tried submitting a claim, and everything just got sent back stating  It's not a covered benefit" .  "" We are not denying the claim because there can't be a claim on something that is not a covered benefit".  Ridiculous, I know.   Round & Round we went.   I never thought I'd be getting a loan for a self pay. I'm not worried about them keeping me, if there's a problem, what I AM worried about is "after" the surgery, if something happens like a leak, a hole or "something" that requires a "re-do" in order to go on in this journey  I would need to "pre-pay" for the fix.  Well, at least that is the understanding I have from last Tuesday's apt.    Plus, get this, in my 15K self pay, if for some reason I don't do as well as expected and end up staying the "night", then the night is"most likely" on me, unless they can get away with " coding" it as something else.   I will probably still go thru with it, fingers crossed I make it through.  Like evryone else, I have come a looonnnggg way & too far to turn back now.  My dh just tells me we'll cross that bridge when & if we get there....He's calm & cool, me I'm a bag of nerves.  

DH's are good for that kind of thing.  They are always cool and calm. At least my DB(dear boyfriend) is.  I think you are making the right choice.  And the money is just money.  Remember you can't take it with you when you die so you just spend it now!!  Good Luck to you and let me know how things go for ya!! Kelly

My husband and I are both patients of Dr. Rosens and I'm here to say, neither one of us had any complications.  He saved our lives and for that, I will be forever grateful.  He's my hero. Good Luck to you. Christina

I'm one of Jeff's patients who did have a slight complication post surgery. About three months after my surgery, the area around my port became infected and, after several months of unsuccessful antibiotic treatment, had to be removed until the infection could be cleared up, then put back in. Like you, I had doubts and I was a cash patient, too. Jeff was very cognizant of the cost involved and the fact that it would likely be coming out of my pocket (though we did submit to and were denied by my insurance company). He worked with me to keep the costs down as much as possible on the follow up surgery making several recommendations to that effect.  Based upon his recommendation, we chose to take the port out and, six weeks later, put it back in at an outpatient surgery center.  By doing this, it saved me close to 10 thousand dollars over having the procedure done at a hospital. His office got me quotes on ding the procedure at each place. I'm pleased to say that I have had no problems since the port was put back in. Jeff is a good doctor and a caring person.  I think that he will always do his best and make the best recommendations that he can for you. I'm really appreciative of everything that Jeff has done for me and I'm sure he would do the same for each of his patients in that situation.

Thanks for the vote of confidence in Dr Rosen....  I am excited that I chose him and if it weren't for this board I might have stuck to my original choice out in Kankakee, which I now know would have been a mistake.  I just wish Dr Rosen wasn't soooooo far away.... 2 hours and through the highways, fun fun...

From everything that I have heard, Dr. Rosen is a great doctor.  I had a consultation with him and a couple of others so I could make sure that I was making the best possible choice for myself, and ended up going elsewhere.  I don't really know much about small business insurance, but my insurance ended up covering my surgery even though I really didn't have any major comorbidities yet.  All it took was a call from my doctor explaining that the potential for much more expensive medical issues down the road would cost considerably more than the surgery. I dunno how helpful other doctors are with that, but mine really helped me out on that end. Anyway, a hospital still has to help you even if you don't have the means to pay them.  It's not like they can let you die just because you don't have money.

Dr. Rosen was far for me to travel also.....but I wouldn't change a thing!  I even had a scheduled surgery date with another bariatric surgeon that was so much closer and thru some cir****tances went to Dr. Rosen and am sooooo very glad I did!   The education for our surgery never stops from his staff,  pre-op or post-op!  They make themselves available to us for just about anything!   I have learned so much from all of them and very grateful that they are all in my life. Pam