Manitoa Health Coverage

I am wondering if someone can clarify how one gets coverage for lap band surgery from Manitoba Health. Now that the Maples Surgical Center in Winnipeg will be doing the procedure, they have advised that it is not covered, but yet I keep reading about people going out of province and being covered. When you look at the provincial health care website it contains the usual inarticulate information. It sounds like if you are referred you are covered, but then maybe only if they have to send you out of province; some people make it sound like you can be covered completely as long as you jump through all the bureaucratic red tape. I am willing to listen to anything...$18500 is a lot of coin and if any of it can be covered in any way I'm willing to do whatever. Thanks

Manitoba Health will not cover the lapband.. They only cover Gastric Bypass Surgery and only out of Province. They have no plans on covering the lapband anytime soon. I am going out of province and going to Toronto. I don't have the money to pay out of pocket for either procedures.

just letting everyone know that ontario is not doing out of province weight loss surgeries anymore..... my doctor just talked to doctors down there. my daughter had weight loss surgery in ontario 3 years ago. now they don't do it anymore.

even if the province covered the cost it still is very expensive,r you have to pay for your flights a head of time and they will give you some of it back less the tax, u have to pay for food, some medication,hotel,cabs...

No they don't cover lap band they cover gastric bypass surgery only if the doctor out of province accepts the amt they are willing to pay.Private clinics cost a fortune and they don't pay for private even if its gastric bypass your having.I have been on a waiting list for almost 5 years and am now finally waiting to sign the contracts for surgery hopefully by March I will have the surgery done. The province will assist with transportation but only for consult/surgery and 1 follow up.They pay basic airfare or gas if driving to out of province location.you are responsible for hotels transportation etc.Most surgeons require multiple visits outside of the ones mentioned above.Needless to say the province covered my plane ticket minus taxes to and from my appt.I have had to attend and info session (mandatory) province did not assist with that.The session was one day long it cost me approx 1000.00 for flight/taxi/hotel.for a one day session plus two days lost wages.I have to go to three more appts before surgery so there is an additional few thousand dollars again.It is so expensive.I wish the surgery would have been offered in province Financially we cant afford it.I guess good health care goes to the highest bidder.

Hi I have heard it is not covered period and trust me I have investigated it. I have also heard it is on about 50% successful. And it is high maintance. I am having gastric bypass in nov 2008 with Dr Nohr is Medicine Hat and cant wait. I would not waste my money on something not 100%. Make sure you do you research. shelly

DEAR MODERATOR: Please remove this post I made last week: RE: Manitoa Health Coverage Response from Debi Delisle at 7:50 PM CST on 01/12/2008 It is the one I am "replying" to now. It is the fourth in the thread started "Manitoba Health Coverage" by Yvonne Sharples on 11/28/07 11:44 am I wrote to you before but I didn't explain well enough what meant. The information I put in the post I made on Jan 12 2008 is not accurate. I just found that out. So I want to take it OFF the forum all together. I don't know how to do that, so I just thought if I "reply" to it, and put a note to you, perhaps you could do it for me. Sorry to be such a pain, Thanks for doing this, Debi

It is true what others have said here about Manitoba Health coverage. They send a letter saying they will cover the procedure - they list that they cover hospital, surgery etc etc . all except the band itself. However, the coverage they provide is just the Provincial Fee Schedule for the province. Unfortunately, no doctor in any province actually performs this surgery for the price listed, which is just around $1000. They say they pay the normal hosopital cost, but the hospital never charges out-of-province patients (elective surgery) the normal price. They charge way more. I calculated that it would actually cost about $15,300 to do the surgery with the doctor in Vancouver where I have been referred, out of that, Manitoba Health would pay about $1000 plus $730 for airfare. So, Manitoba Health 'covers' the cost of this procedure: they pay $ 1,700 patient pays $13,600 um, yeah, that's covering the cost alright.

Hmmm...I am now very concerned I have surgery out of province in a few weeks.I sent the letter to my doctor in nb stating that manitoba will pay for the surgery and hospital stay.The doctor agreed to do it but my concern now is am I going to get an outrageous bill for my surgery?????? I would hate to be two days out of surgery and this happen.How can the province do this????They need to be more forthcoming regarding these issues.I knew lapband wasnt covered (the band itself) but I was told that everything else is covered for GBypass.If this is not true I will be in a big mess.I would hate to be leaving the hospital and receive a huge bill....Wowwwwww this is not right.It is not our fault that the government of Manitoba dont bring surgeons here!!!!!

Manitoba Health will pay for everything except the actual lap band. It costs about 5000.

Does anyone know how I can make my wait time shorter? I am on the list for toronto but they said it is going to be over 2 years, just for my consultation. I have heard about people getting in within a year. Can anyone help me?