New to this

Hello all, I just found this site today and am very excited to see how helpful everyone is. I just found out that my insurance has the gastric bypass surgery as an exclusion to my policy. Needless to say I was extremely disappointed.  I would like to know if anyone in  the Fort Lauderdale area has done the gastric bypass as a self pay. I'm trying to find out how much this will cost and try to find the best doctor for the best price. Does anyone have any suggestions? I did go through the whole paperwork process at Florida Medical Center but if I remember correctly the cost was $26K 2 years ago. I need to find somewhere where the cost is lower. Thanks so much!!

Just wanted to say hi and welcome to you. A few people have gone to Mexico or other foreign countries for surgery, not sure I could do that, but if I was desperate who knows?

Welcome! I'm in Colorado and self-paid.  It was $26k for the surgeon and hospital.  I paid an additional $1500 or so for anthesteologist (my spelling is bad) and another $600-800 for various blood tests and such.  I had surgery six months ago.  I've known some people who have gone out of state for surgery - don't know if it's cheaper. Good luck Jana

I just wanted to say hello and wish you luck along your way.  I hope that you are able to do the surgery self pay and can find an affordable surgeon.  Good luck!

Go to the Florida state forum and post your question there.  There are lots of people on there who live in the south florida area.   In Pensacola there are two Centers of Excellence and one is $15K less than the other.  However, I would never have had surgery with the less expensive center because of the doc's statistics.   Please, please, please do your research on the doctor and know everything there is to know about his practice, his techniques and his staff. A few thousand dollars is not worth your life. I went through 6 month supervised weight loss trial and in between all of that my insurance wrote out the gastric bypass.  Nothing would have helped it I was told.   My husband was planning to join the AF reserves after our son graduated from highschool anyway so he just do so a few months earlier.   Tricare covers WLS with no trials or anything. I wish you much luck and welcome to the site.

Welcome!! You can get so much support on this site.  Everyone here really is great.  I hope you are able to find what you need.  I have been there with insurance having an exclusion for WLS; so I know how hard it is.  Good luck to you!! Caroline

Thank you everyone for the quick response. I'm going to do my research and see what I come up with. I'm excited to know that there are such nice and helpful people out here. I'll keep posting so you can see my progress. Thank you so much for the support!!