A Little Lost
I am just getting started and with a change in meds I have lost 15 lbs of my 340 lbs where I am starting. Now, do you have to lose weight before you have the surgery or do they take you as you are as long as you can prove you can stick to a diet?
Also, I know the cost of the surgery, but what are the other "hidden" costs, like the dietician consult? I have money put aside but I want to be prepared. I have no doubt that my insurance will cover the surgery, I just want to know what it takes to ge to that point.
Sara
Also, I know the cost of the surgery, but what are the other "hidden" costs, like the dietician consult? I have money put aside but I want to be prepared. I have no doubt that my insurance will cover the surgery, I just want to know what it takes to ge to that point.
Sara
Hi Sara! Welcome to BMI over 50!
"Now, do you have to lose weight before you have the surgery or do they take you as you are as long as you can prove you can stick to a diet?"
This depends on the surgeon you pick and your insurance. Some insurances require a 6 month supervised diet. Some surgeon's (like mine) require you to lose a certain amount of weight before the surgery. In my case, it was because I had a high starting BMI and my doc wanted me to lose 60 to 80 pounds. I ended losing almost 50 and my surgeon was happy with that when I saw her for my reconsult about a year later. I had been seeing the nutritionist every month while I was losing preop for accountability and she would email my surgeon updates on my condition. My surgeon congratulated me for getting the weight off when she inspected my abdomen and could feel how "mushy" I had gotten it. It did not matter to her that it was not her "60 to 80" that she said at the begining. This helps to shrink the liver so it is easier to do the surgery for one thing.
Also, I know the cost of the surgery, but what are the other "hidden" costs, like the dietician consult? I have money put aside but I want to be prepared. I have no doubt that my insurance will cover the surgery, I just want to know what it takes to ge to that point.
If you know already that your insurance covers the surgery itself I would not worry about the rest. My insurance actually did not cover the surgery itself. However, they did pay 70% of my labs, chest x-ray, sleep study, EKG, surgeon consult fee, medical doctor consult fee, nutritionist visits and I think 50% of my 2 psych eval visits. Also, most of these I have not even gotten billed for yet. Some I have paid, others from my october 20th surgery are still in the process thereof of being sent to insurance and then probably will start coming in the december billing cycle. But if it gets too much for me I will just call the hospital and set up a payment schedule with the finance people. I am not worried about it. It is already a done deal and they will get their money as I can afford it. They cant take it back now! It will get paid eventually. So far, so good. Just keep treading water. And frankly, I am too happy as I rapidly am losing weight to worry too much about it. I am most definitely worth it and so are you!
Good luck on your journey.
"Now, do you have to lose weight before you have the surgery or do they take you as you are as long as you can prove you can stick to a diet?"
This depends on the surgeon you pick and your insurance. Some insurances require a 6 month supervised diet. Some surgeon's (like mine) require you to lose a certain amount of weight before the surgery. In my case, it was because I had a high starting BMI and my doc wanted me to lose 60 to 80 pounds. I ended losing almost 50 and my surgeon was happy with that when I saw her for my reconsult about a year later. I had been seeing the nutritionist every month while I was losing preop for accountability and she would email my surgeon updates on my condition. My surgeon congratulated me for getting the weight off when she inspected my abdomen and could feel how "mushy" I had gotten it. It did not matter to her that it was not her "60 to 80" that she said at the begining. This helps to shrink the liver so it is easier to do the surgery for one thing.
Also, I know the cost of the surgery, but what are the other "hidden" costs, like the dietician consult? I have money put aside but I want to be prepared. I have no doubt that my insurance will cover the surgery, I just want to know what it takes to ge to that point.
If you know already that your insurance covers the surgery itself I would not worry about the rest. My insurance actually did not cover the surgery itself. However, they did pay 70% of my labs, chest x-ray, sleep study, EKG, surgeon consult fee, medical doctor consult fee, nutritionist visits and I think 50% of my 2 psych eval visits. Also, most of these I have not even gotten billed for yet. Some I have paid, others from my october 20th surgery are still in the process thereof of being sent to insurance and then probably will start coming in the december billing cycle. But if it gets too much for me I will just call the hospital and set up a payment schedule with the finance people. I am not worried about it. It is already a done deal and they will get their money as I can afford it. They cant take it back now! It will get paid eventually. So far, so good. Just keep treading water. And frankly, I am too happy as I rapidly am losing weight to worry too much about it. I am most definitely worth it and so are you!
Good luck on your journey.
Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.
HW 491, BMI 70.4 *** SW 444, BMI 63.7 *** CW 364, BMI 52.5
every dr. is differant. mine dr. didn't require me to lose any weight. i'm still waiting on insurance approval and they may make me. i hope not, but we'll see. as far as hidden costs the only out of pocket expense i had was the nutritional evaluation. i called around and was quoted all kinds of crazy prices. it seemed like the prices jumped as soon as they heard it was for WLS. i finally found a really great nutritionalist who did the eval. for $80. and she's coming to the hospital after my surgery to check on me and i have her e-mail. she has also called to check on me. and i found her by calling my local hospital and they referred her to me. well i hope this info helps and good luck. take care, becce
My medical group doctor required I lose 8 or 12 pounds during my 6-month supervised diet. But there are some people who have to lose 100 or nothing at all. It depends on your insurance and your doctor/surgeon.
I guess I'm pretty lucky in that I really didn't have any "hidden" monetary costs. My insurance covered all of it, except for $15 copays for doctor visits, hospital copay ($500) and travel and parking costs. My "costs" were in the time it took me to get through with it.
2 years because I changed insurance companies/medical groups twice because of my husband changing jobs
6 months of medically supervised diet
3 months to get all my preop tests completed (treadmill test took 3 months -- everything else was done in a couple of weeks)
You really have to check with your insurance and your doctor's, surgeon's office to get any idea. (Everyone else that had my surgeon had to put down a $600 deposit the first time they went to his office -- not me.) And even then you might have surprises -- my hospital copay went up when the year changed from 2008 to 2009.
I guess one "hidden cost" people don't think about is supplements postop. Depending on the surgery you choose, you will be spending some or a lot of money on supplements. These are nonnegotiable. And the cost of protein postop -- hopefully, you'll be able to stomach something cheap. But there are days that the protein I'm drinking costs me $4 a day. (When I run out of my stash at work and have to go to GNC at lunch to buy a RTD Isopure.)
Best of luck with your journey!
I guess I'm pretty lucky in that I really didn't have any "hidden" monetary costs. My insurance covered all of it, except for $15 copays for doctor visits, hospital copay ($500) and travel and parking costs. My "costs" were in the time it took me to get through with it.
2 years because I changed insurance companies/medical groups twice because of my husband changing jobs
6 months of medically supervised diet
3 months to get all my preop tests completed (treadmill test took 3 months -- everything else was done in a couple of weeks)
You really have to check with your insurance and your doctor's, surgeon's office to get any idea. (Everyone else that had my surgeon had to put down a $600 deposit the first time they went to his office -- not me.) And even then you might have surprises -- my hospital copay went up when the year changed from 2008 to 2009.
I guess one "hidden cost" people don't think about is supplements postop. Depending on the surgery you choose, you will be spending some or a lot of money on supplements. These are nonnegotiable. And the cost of protein postop -- hopefully, you'll be able to stomach something cheap. But there are days that the protein I'm drinking costs me $4 a day. (When I run out of my stash at work and have to go to GNC at lunch to buy a RTD Isopure.)
Best of luck with your journey!
One food makes you larger, and one food makes you small...
Thanks for the info. I think just changing meds will allow me to lose 40-50 lbs and I can do quite a bit on my own because I am not a big eater, I just ended up on meds that slowed your metabolism down to nothing.
6 months on a supervied diet can't be that hard. I am controlling what I eat now but I have been on so many meds that caused weight gain, including steroids that I will never get off what I have put on.
My insurance will cover the surgery and all of the visits so I don't think I will be out of pocket too much I was just hearing some things about a surgeon here and I wanted to be sure that this wasn't normal practice and considering what all of you have said, it isn't.
Thanks for the feedback.
6 months on a supervied diet can't be that hard. I am controlling what I eat now but I have been on so many meds that caused weight gain, including steroids that I will never get off what I have put on.
My insurance will cover the surgery and all of the visits so I don't think I will be out of pocket too much I was just hearing some things about a surgeon here and I wanted to be sure that this wasn't normal practice and considering what all of you have said, it isn't.
Thanks for the feedback.
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