How to get help with skin removal

Hi my name is Danielle and my mom had the sleeve surgery in 2014. She was 320Ibs and as of her 60th birthday on January 2 she weighs 195! Her health insurance paid for this so she went to see what can be done about her excess skin to be removed. She was eevaluated and was turned down saying she didn't qualify! She lost the weight to be able move around more and be able to exercise so she can live longer and be happy. Now what can we do? She can't even afford protein drinks or healthy food let alone paying for skin removal surgery! She's on a fixed income and she might be able to put a down payment on it.. Can anyone help please!

From what I read the only way they will pay for it is if is causing her trouble.  Back pain, rashes etc.  She needs to write an appeals letter stating this.  Give it to the plastic surgeon along with pictures.  They may only pay for a Penni though.

And typically the insurance company requires at least 6 months of doctor-documented problems like those described above to even submit for an appeal.  Which means 6 months of going into the doctor for these specific type of appointments. 

If insurance won't cover it (and it's a super-rare plan that does) then she'll have to do what the rest of us did: 1) save her $$ and pay for it out of pocket, or 2) learn to live with it.  

There's tons of good shapewear out there that does a fantastic job at hugging in all the jiggling skin.  

Has your mom tried Spanx?

psychoticparrot

Unfortunately skin removal is considered elective and not covered by insurance companies.  Unless you have massive amounts of documentation of rashes, they may consider it, but it's not always a slam dunk.

There was a case in California where a WLS patient sued their insurance company (Kaiser) to cover skin removal surgery.  She won, but it hasn't changed what other insurance carriers will cover.

There's not many solutions other than saving up money for plastic surgery or wearing control garments like Spanx.  That's the sad truth.

There is a new TV show called Skin Tight that shows people having plastic surgery to remove excess skin after weight loss.  Who knows?  Maybe they're looking for people to appear on the show.  They might cover the costs if your mother is chosen to participate.