Help in finding funds for Lap Band surgery

Hi all, Just joined this forum. I am very interested in everyones experiences in there surgeries. I am in the process of finding the funds for my surgery. My insurance will pay most I guess but I need to find the first 5000 dollars to get it started. I rent so can't borrow from equity. Credit is bad so can't finance in any way. I just need to get the cash. I have been brain storming like crazy to figure it out.  If any one has any ideas please let me know I am getting desperate because my weight is going up cause of the meds I take.  Thanks to all that can help.

I dont know if you work or not, But where I work they have a Flex spending account, where you put a certain amount of pre tax dollars into. Basically lets say you put in 5,000.00 in you have that money available Jan 1st, and its taken a little bit out of each Paycheck. My portion of my Surgery was 2400.00, So I put in 2600.00, Just to be safe, and they take out a 100 dollars out of each check. You get a debit card for healthcare purchases, and they swipe the card.

Who is the surgeon you are going to?  There may be some other surgeons out there who don't require as much out  of pocket to get started.

I know many of you are having to deal with the insurance companies of which can be a huge problem. In my case Aetna will not cover Lap Band. Gastric Bypass they will, but I prefer to go banded. You may have other options by taking a loan on your 401K funds. What is nice about funding from your 401K is the interest on the loan goes into your 401K plan.

Another option is to file for a Medical Hardship Withdraw. The withdraw does not require you to pay it back, secondly because your funding a medical procedure you are not penalize for taking the funds from your 401K. Like any funds this money will need to be reported as income and will need to pay taxes on the funded amount at the end of the year, but you will be able to write all medical expeneses off at the end of the year. So if you save all receipts this may be a complete wash where you do not pay any additional taxes.

In taking a Medical Hardship Withdraw many 401K plans require the user to take out two 401K loans on your monies in order to qualify for a Medical Hardship Withdraw. If this is the case the minimum loan amount most plans allow is $1000.00 and you would need to do this twice in order to qualify for the Medical Hardship Withdraw. Most plans allow you to take out these loans all in the same week and then apply for the Medical Hardship Withdraw once you receive the two loans. Remember you will need to pay back the two loans. You could simply take the two checks you receive as loans, cash them, and pay back the loans within weeks of receiving and after you receive the Medical Hardship Withdraw check.