Insurance and Labs/Vitamin Costs

If my insurance does not cover weight loss surgery, will it cover complications or labs? How does that work?

What would you estimate your monthly/annual cost for vitamins and various supplements? Is anyone self pay for labs? Is the cost out of this world?

Thank you.

My insurance didn't cover the WLS so I was a self pay. At 18 months I haven't had any issues with insurance covering my labs.
You just have to make sure they code as checking for deficiencies instead of as followup to the surgery. I've seen one or two people 
have this problem so it is certainly not common.

As a self pay the program I went through ( Cleveland Clinic ) enrolled me in supplementary insurance for I think 3 months post-op
to take care of complications. Issues after that are usually treated as new issues and not strictly surgery related. At least that is what
I think.

The first month I did from $150-$200 on vitamins as part of the initial stock up. At 18 months I am now to $50 - $75 per month
I also spend about $60 a month on powder for my protein shakes.

Does this balance out with groceries? Do you spend less for food now with an additional $100 or more in supplements and protein?

Hi Pete - I'm scheduled for DS on the 21st. Not sure if we're doing the original DS or this newer revised LOOP DS??? Any opinion there? I'm self pay as well and will be purchasing the 3 month BLISS insurance....I haven't read through the plan or been given it. Did you have it explained as to what exactly is covers? Thanks

BLISS sounds familiar. That may have been what I had with supplemental insurance. Once I didn't need it I promptly forgot
all the details.   I knew it would cover if they needed to go back in for things like a leak or an infection.

I haven't seen enough from people having had the LOOP (SADI?) to really say on a results basis. There have been a lot of
discussion early on dealing with people that didn't understand they were getting something different than the original DS. Not
the case for you, obviously.

Even though the Loop isn't new there isn't really a lot of information (studies) on it. I understand it is an effort to get part of the 
benefits of the original DS with fewer of the long term complications. For me, I needed the stats showing I would have the best
chance of losing all the weight I wanted and keeping a lot of it off. Diabetes was also a factor in my choice. I was a heavyweight
at 464 after my surgery and much higher 3 months before surgery. For me I would still do the original DS.

It's a real discussion point with your surgeon. I think with a regular DS you have a more known quantity. Like any surgery, a few of 
the people getting the DS have more problems than others and the Loop might avoid some of those but I don't know what those issues
will look like for the Loop.

Good luck on your surgery - heal fast. Keep us up to date on how things go and how we can help.

Pete